British Fashion Council names 2017 grant recipients

The British Fashion Council has named the 11 designers that will receive a slice of the 450,000 pound grant as part of its Fashion Trust financial and mentoring support scheme, which marks the largest donation by the trust to date.

New recipients for 2017 are Edeline Lee, Georgia Hardinge, Isa Arfen, Sharon Wauchob and Teatum Jones. While previous recipients Eudon Choi, Fyodor Golan, Huishan Zhang, Marques’Almeida, Osman and Rejina Pyo will also continue to receive funding this year.

The British Fashion Council Fashion Trust, which was founded in 2011, offers the designers mentoring and financial support to promote the art and business of fashion. As part of the structured mentoring programme in 2017 designers will benefit from legal advice from Taylor Wessing, while Livia Firth and her team at Eco-Age will be mentoring on sustainability and industry best practice.

The philanthropic programme is developed in partnership with co-chairs Tania Fares and Sian Westerman, along with the British Fashion Council, and the Fashion Trust Advisory Committee.

BFC Fashion Trust awards 11 designers a slice of the 450,000 pound grant

Tania Fares and Sian Westerman said: “Supporting the development of such a strong group of designer businesses reflects the core aim of the BFC Fashion Trust, and is the most rewarding part of the initiative. We are incredibly proud of what the BFC Fashion Trust, with the help of its wonderful members and partners, has achieved so far and look forward to continuing to nurture the incredible pool of talented designers in the UK.”

Caroline Rush, chief executive officer of the British Fashion Council, added: “The generosity of the BFC Fashion Trust supporters is always remarkable, and I am delighted that we are able to support these eleven deserving designers for the year ahead. By providing financial as well as mentoring support the BFC Fashion Trust continues to help secure the future stability of these designer businesses in contributing to our growing industry.”

Since its inception in 2011 the British Fashion Council Fashion Trust has awarded over 1.5 million pounds to 33 designer businesses to help with critical business support such as developing websites, e-commerce platforms and bricks and mortar stores.

Previous recipients of the grant and mentoring have included Christopher Kane, Emilia Wickstead, Erdem, Gareth Pugh, Huishan Zhang, Mary Katrantzou, palmer//harding, Peter Pilotto, Roksanda and Sophia Webster.

Image: courtesy of the British Fashion Council