Fashion Capital : Fashion Enter

When i was at the pure london - i got an opportunity to visit a couple of very interesting places.

One of them was the iconic Fashion Enter / Fashion Capital division -( yes I call it a division by itself because that is what it has established itself into in the UK Fashion industry.)

As a business model, as well as a social entity - Fashion Enter is a successful achievement. Very effective and so grounded in its principle.

Jennifer Holloway - the CEO, is a woman of great character indeed. I met with her personally for a brief discussion of several business topics and she spoke volumes to me in her few words; I am much immature and so illiterate in actual terms compared with her. I felt it great honour to have had her time; not just that - I also felt tad guilty for occupying the busy lady.

So, the beginnings of my blog - I dedicate to her with great esteem and respect. It won't be much contribution - but I ensure my appreciation and thumbs up for all the serious Fashion enthusiasts, lovers and business people to visit the institution and contribute to Jennifer's dream of creating fashion opportunities, developing it as a systematic, quality conscious and socially effective business while keeping it simple! 

(Correct me if I am wrong Jenny! )

Below is a brief I have literally lifted off their website.. To enlighten my readers on what Fashion Capital is all about!

Cheers xx

WHO ARE WE?

Fashion Enter is a not for profit, social enterprise, which strives to be a centre of excellence for sampling, grading, production and for learning and development of skills within the fashion and textiles industry.

What do we do?

FashionCapital.co.uk

FashionCapital.co.uk is the UK's leading portal for the fashion industry and is the sister company to Fashion Enter Ltd

Launched in 2001 the FashionCapital site is a one stop online resource with a dedicated team of journalists, business advisors and industry experts to ensure users receive a unique insight into the world of fashion.

Production and Sampling

Fashion Enter has a Factory for large scale production and a Fashion Studio for grading, sampling and small productions runs. Both units are Sedex approved and produce for leading retailers, etailers, designers and new business start ups.

Business Mentoring and Workshops

Fashion Enter works with new designers that require complete business support from initial concept to garment production. Advice is offered through one to one mentoring, group workshops and seminars, specialist advisors and via the fashioncapital.co.uk website.

All upcoming workshops, seminars and pattern cutting courses can be found on the Notice Board

The Showroom

Fashion Enter represents its designers to buyers and retailers both in the UK and globally. To date a selection of designers have successfully been sold into asos.com, Topshop, Debenhams, Simply Be and JD Williams. Global selling missions have taken place to South Africa, Brazil, New York, Latvia and Turkmenistan.

All upcoming buyer meetings and international trips can be found on the Notice Board

PROFILE Fashion Event

PROFILE is Fashion Enter's showcasing event for new and emerging designers and has been established since 2001. Bridging the gap between Graduate Fashion Week and London Fashion Week PROFILE enables buyers to meet new potential designers and networks the industry together.

Learning and Development

Fashion Enter is the UK's largest provider in the country for the Fashion and Textiles Apprenticeship programme and has been awarded the Tick – a mark of excellence provided by the government body Creative Skillset.

The Fashion and Textiles Apprenticeship Programme 

Fashion Enter has also created a Stitching Academy for a Level 1 award in Fashion and Textiles helping the unemployed to gain much needed stitching skills.

The Stitching Academy 

Educational Visits – Fashion Enter can engage with schools and colleges to provide students with a real insight into the fashion industry. Educational site visits to the Factory and the Fashion Studio are available with a review of the design life cycle. Projects can also be tailor made to fit in with school curriculums.

Special Projects

Fashion Enter often undertakes various projects and collaborations with a view to helping designers achieve brand recognition and generate sales. Past projects have included:

British Designers Collective at Bicester Village

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Made in Britain

Retail and Etail

The Clothes Show Live

The Collection

International

Design Competitions

Other Services

PR Dispensary Service – Fashion Enter's in-house PR service; The PR Dispensary is headed up by former editor and journalist JoJo Iles. It provides clients with a tailor made press release and distributing service.

Creative Designs - a unique design marketing agency to create a new branding concept for designers and their business which includes: logos, advertising banners, strap lines, letter heads, compliment slips and business cards.

Design Consultation – a service which enables clients to work with Fashion Enter's in-house designer to develop a concept into a viable and commercial collection.

Business Consultation – an opportunity to engage with a business consultant and gain advice and support on all areas of setting up and running a business successfully

Fashion Enter Ltd - Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 for the Social Enterprise category; the London and South region

London fashion week: where all the international attendees come from

London fashion week kicks off on Friday, with thousands of guests expected to attend the five-day event. Where are the international visitors from and how is the UK’s fashion industry perceived?

 Models, led by Cara Delevingne (L) present creations from designer Burberry Prorsum during the 2014 Autumn / Winter London fashion week in London on February 17, 2014. Photograph: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

Twice a year London becomes the world’s capital for many of the global fashion elite. From fashion editors to bloggers and buyers, London fashion week - held in September and February - draws in a huge amount of international interest.

Along with New York, Milan and Paris, fashion week in London makes up the ‘big four’. According to the British Fashion Council (BFC), more than 5,000 visitors attend the bi-annual event, made up of a mix of UK and international fashion buyers, TV and radio crews, photographers, journalists and bloggers.

By far the largest proportion of international guests registering to attend the spring/summer 2015 shows, which were held in September of last year, were from Europe. There was also significant representation from Asia and North America which, combined, accounted for almost half of all international guests.

Visitors from the US comprised the biggest proportion of international guests from an individual country at 20%, followed by France (11%). 

The BFC claim that the direct value of the UK fashion industry to the UK economy is £26bn, up from £21bn in 2009, and that UK fashion industry is estimated to support 797,000 jobs.

But how is the UK, and specifically it’s fashion industry viewed internationally?

A 2010 report by Oxford Economics, commissioned by the BFC, discusses the difficulty in quantifying the UK’s “international brand equity” (i.e the overall image of a nation in the eyes of the outside world) when it comes to the fashion industry.

However, the report does try to measure the UK’s fashion reputation overseas. To do so it looks at the 2009 results of the Anholt-Gfk Roper Nation Brands Index (NBI) - an analytical tool that aims to measure and rank the reputations of 50 countries across the world based on a survey of over 20,000 adults in 20 ‘core countries’.

Among the 20 ‘core countries’, almost as many respondents associated the UK with fashion as they did with film and television. The research suggests that fashion beat ads, food, agriculture, crafts and oil as a key type of export associated with the UK.

The same report also calculated that foreign tourist spending attributable to the UK fashion industry was around £98m in 2009, accounting for 0.5% of total international visitor spending.

The value of London fashion week in helping to build the international reputation of the UK fashion industry is firmly highlighted by the report, which calls the event and UK fashion retail “magnets for both British and international audiences with an interest in fashion.”

----By the Guardian