FASHION ROUNDTABLE x BLACK NEON DIGITAL x ASHISH
Fashion is a global conversation
We are delighted to bring you:
FASHION ROUNDTABLE in partnership with BLACK NEON DIGITAL
in conversation with ASHISH - fashion is a global conversation
£28billion direct contribution to the UK economy (GDP) from the UK fashion industry, up from £26billion in 2013. Oxford Economics via BFC
Mintel estimates that womenswear value sales grew by 2.9% in 2017 to reach £28.1billion and are predicted to rise to reach £28.77billion by 2021. Mintel, 2017
Of the nine creative industries sub-sectors surveyed, the design and designer fashion industry saw the largest increase in the number of BAME employees, rising by a massive 49.2 per cent between 2015 and 2016. However, this still only makes up 8.7 per cent of the 160,00 people working in design and designer fashion. Dezeen
A nation’s wealth and its attraction to work and live is determined by Gross domestic product (GDP), which is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year.
This means that as an economy we want to be productive, work hard, and make money.
To make money we have to have conditions in which businesses are supported by the Government to prosper and in turn, the government reap the reward of prosperity through taxes. These taxes can then be redistributed to contribute to the wealth and wellbeing of society as a whole.
Fashion businesses are a unique, unusual combination of art, design and commerce. For a fashion business to be successful they need to be supported financially and to employ exceptional talent.
The UK is known for its creativity and a fashion education system that produces the most talented people in the world. So, therefore it would make economic sense to capitalise on that talent, to help them to prosper, to attract them to study, work and build businesses here in the UK.
So why do we make it so hard for international students to remain in the UK after their student visa ends? And why do we not support designers to hire the best talent in the world?
Ashish Gupta, Founder of luxury fashion brand Ashish, is a global success, but one we regard as British. Having shown at London Fashion Week 27 times, Ashish has experienced first hand how stressful and counterproductive the visa process can be.
In this podcast Ashish and Tamara Cincik, CEO & founder of Fashion Roundtable discuss how an immigrant from Delhi, who was educated at Central St Martins, has made a successful fashion business in the UK despite extremely challenging economic environmental circumstances.
Listen to podcast above, on
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Through this discussion, we begin to build a picture of a way forward in which the Government can support our unique fashion industry. And that’s where Fashion Roundtable, through surveys manifestos that propose a way forward, make Ashish’s and many other fashion industry works voices heard, so the Government can make sure the UK is the best place for the fashion industry.
To date Ashish has shown at London Fashion Week 27 times, image via vogue.co.uk
“We have the best art schools, the best fashion schools, we get the most incredible people who come from all these different cultures all these different countries. They come here, they live here, we train them, we give them this amazing education, all this experience, then we insist that they go away. Its mind boggling. Why would you not want to retain that talent here? ”
“What we want is the safeguarding and long-term sustainability of the (fashion) industry.
By heroing the immigrant narrative it takes it way from the conversations that have been happening for the last couple of years, that have been slightly out of kilter with how the industry perceives immigration.”
“If I like someone body’s taste levels, and I like somebody’s eye for things, I like somebody’s ideas, I can’t find that in another person. It’s unique. And that is what makes art unique that’s what makes fashion unique. And that’s the value. That’s inherently the DNA of creative people. ”
Ashish's home featured in British Vogue September 2018, photo by Simon Watson via instagram.com/ashish
“My only interest is to grow the industry, to grow my business, to do more things, do better things, be involved in more projects. And I can’t do that if I’m being limited in who I can have working for me for a start. And secondly, I just think I have a better understanding of who will work for me in my business than someone sitting in an office somewhere who has no understanding of what I do. ”
Above images backstage at Ashish AW18 by Tomas Turpie
“Years ago I did a (catwalk) show where I had no white girls in the show. And I remember a journalist coming up to me after the show and she said, why did you have all black models in the show? And I said, have you ever asked a designer why they had all white girls in their show?”
1. Ashish in Immigrant T-shirt via Refinery29
2. Tamara Cincik in #dontmakefashionhistory T-shirt photo by Bec O'Conner
3. Love & Devotion SS17 via Wonderland Magazine
Thank you to Ashish, Amy, Tamara, Fashion Roundtable and Andy at Village PR for making this shine.
NOTES
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. Countries are sorted by nominal GDP estimates from financial and statistical institutions, which are calculated at market or government official exchange rates. Nominal GDP does not take into account differences in the cost of living in different countries, and the results can vary greatly from one year to another based on fluctuations in the exchange rates of the country's currency. Such fluctuations may change a country's ranking from one year to the next, even though they often make little or no difference in the standard of living of its population. Comparisons of national wealth are also frequently made on the basis of purchasing power parity (PPP), to adjust for differences in the cost of living in different countries.
Rt. Hon Sir Oliver Letwin MP Red Tape Initiative
Baroness Young of Hornsey, Margaret Omolola Young.
15.08.2018
