London Fashion Week: new figures released on fashion's growth
As the 63rd edition of London Fashion Week (19-23 February) kicks off in Soho's Brewer Street Car Park, the British Fashion Council has released figures underlining fashion's importance to the British economy and some new research from Mintel, which emphasises in particular the strength of the fashion accessories market.
Over the next five days, 83 designers will showcase their AW16 collections on the official show schedule. Highlights will include the return of Alexander McQueen to the London schedule for the first time in more than a decade. British leathergoods brand Mulberry also marks its return following the appointment of its new creative director Jonny Coca who joined from Céline last July (the brand recently released a teaser video introducing Coca's vision).
Other big names on the schedule include Ashish, Belstaff, Burberry, Christopher Kane, Emilia Wickstead, Erdem, Gareth Pugh, JW Anderson, Mary Katrantzou, Paul Smith, Peter Pilotto, Pringle of Scotland, Sibling, Simone Rocha, Sophia Webster, Topshop Unique and Vivienne Westwood. Belgium brand, AF Vandevorst will be showing on schedule for the first time. View the full schedule here.
On the accessories front, Charlotte Olympia, the luxury shoes and accessories designer, will host her first catwalk show on the London Fashion Week schedule this season. While Hill and Friends, the new brand from former Mulberry creative director Emma Hill will show for the second time. Anya Hindmarch, whose shows have become one of the event's highlights, will also show. In light of the strength of the accessories market the British Fashion Council has released new statistics from Mintel which reveal:
• £2.7billion worth of fashion accessories sales in the UK in 2015. This is a 3.4% rise from 2014
• 60% of shoppers bought accessories online in 2015, an 8% rise from 2013
• 51% of all British women purchased a handbag in 2015
In addition the British Fashion Council has released the following figures to underscore the importance of fashion as a whole to the economy:
• £27billion worth of womenswear (RTW) sales in the UK in 2015. This figure is predicted to grow 23% by 2020 to £32billion (Mintel, 2016)
• £26billion direct contribution to the UK economy (GDP) from the UK fashion industry, up from £21billion in 2009 (Oxford Economics, 2014)
• 797,000 jobs supported by the UK fashion industry (Oxford Economics, 2014)
• £12.4billion spent on fashion online in the UK in 2015, up 16% from £10.7billion in 2014 (Mintel, 2015)
• 68% of UK internet users buy clothing and footwear online (Mintel, 2015)
• 29% of total spending online is on clothing and footwear, up from 13% in 2011 (Mintel, 2015)
