Showing at the next London Fashion Week will be free for all New plans to revive British fashion focus on accessibility

Laura Weir is the new President of the British Fashion Council – a non-profit organization tasked with promoting British fashion – and yesterday she announced new plans for London Fashion Week. At a time when UK designers are relocating to other cultural hubs like Milan, Paris, and Berlin, the calendar is thinning out and, consequently, the international press is pushing London Fashion Week down its list of priorities. The President highlights the need for the BFC to promote local talent. One of Weir's main goals will be to restore the reputation of the British capital in the fashion sector. To do so, she explained, it will be necessary to review investments, open doors to young creatives, and attract greater attention from the rest of the industry. At the British Fashion Council's summer party, Weir stated that this is a «time to reset» for British fashion, at a time when it has become difficult «to make, create, show and, importantly, to scale in this country».

To revitalize the industry's economy, Weir and the British Fashion Council team have decided to make participation in the official calendar of September’s Fashion Week free of charge, waiving the fees that designers and brands previously had to pay – ranging from £500 to £10,000 – to maintain their BFC registration and ensure their name was included in the schedule. While Fashion Week will open its doors to brands and designers to ease the financial burden of showcasing for creatives, the investment in international guests, such as the press and buyers, will be doubled – another decision in support of designers, who, according to Weir, specifically requested this initiative. Lastly, scholarship quotas will be increased, and the BFC NewGen program – an initiative that promotes emerging fashion by featuring the work of new designers for free and on the official calendar within BFC spaces – will continue to expand its horizons, Weir confirmed, especially since the organization will receive additional funding in 2026.

The points raised by Weir at last night’s British Fashion Council party in London are relevant not only to British fashion, but to the entire international industry, which this year has been burdened by severe pressures – from the tariff wars to the impact of geopolitical conflicts on the supply chain, the financial crisis, and the decline in consumer purchasing power. Among the President’s observations is a particular focus on new rising powers, including Hong Kong, India, and the Middle East: speaking with some government representatives, Weir noted not only their interest in cultural development in these three countries but a strategic commitment to the development of their respective fashion sectors at both local and international levels. «Some are meeting me to find out more about London Fashion Week and then their governments are investing millions of pounds in building their own – they understand that investment in culture leads to the commercial and reputational success of a nation,» said Weir. Other ongoing projects include the Fashion Assembly pilot, an initiative created in collaboration with ambassador Sarah Mower to bring established British designers back to their former schools across the country, to inspire young students who might think they are too far from the metropolis to dream of a future in fashion. Finally, Weir issued a call to British retailers, urging them to stop acting solely as wholesalers and to support local creatives and craftsmanship by establishing genuine strategic collaborations.