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Boris Johnson flies in fashion week buyers
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard17.02.09
BORIS Johnson is to spend thousands of pounds flying key members of the fashion world into the capital for London Fashion Week.
The Mayor has agreed to spend £40,000 on airline tickets and accommodation for up to 30 fashion buyers as the recession threatens the event.
Mr Johnson is supporting Fashion Week through the London Development Agency, and hopes that paying for the travel costs ahead of the beginning of the event on Friday will result in a multi-million-pound injection into London's economy. The initiative was first used at the last Fashion Week in September last year. LDA figures show the buyers they flew in placed £13.4 million in orders following the event.
The 30 key players in the fashion industry come from Dubai and other Middle Eastern countries, and are seen as crucial to the success of the week because of their "significant" and "growing" buying power.
Wealthy customers from the Middle East have been targeted by West End stores in a bid to help them defy the credit crunch. High-spending shoppers from overseas have helped maintain demand for luxury products and designer brands in the capital.
The move is part of a British Fashion Council strategy to target buyers who organisers fear would have otherwise ditched the event - either because of the recession or because they no longer see London as a key destination.
There will also be a focus on foreign journalists in an attempt to revive London Fashion Week as a world-class event.
Mr Johnson defended spending money on flights for foreign buyers and said: "Fashion, like the other creative industries, plays a vital role in London's economic success.
"Our aim is to protect its global reputation as a hotbed of world-class established and emerging design talent and also as a dynamically inventive and cutting edge destination. It is essential we do everything we can to support the fashion industry so it comes through the downturn stronger, as well as exciting and innovative."
There have already been reports that the event has been adversely affected by the recession, with designers ditching expensive catwalk shows in favour of small presentations direct to buyers and editors.
In the past London Fashion Week has been worth £20 million to the capital's economy, in terms of direct spending, and generated orders in the region of £100 million.
London Development Agency chief executive Peter Rogers said: "The benefits [of London Fashion Week] are felt across many sectors, from retail to tourism. The LDA's funding is helping the industry's success to continue and to reach out to international markets that are vital to its success."
The LDA also provides funding for the British Fashion Council's media programme aimed at getting more press coverage around the world.
Journalists from emerging markets including China, Brazil, the Middle East and Russia are invited to attend while the British Fashion Council is also trying to build closer relationships with the fashion press from more traditional markets in Europe and America.
The event by numbers
£20 million: amount spent in London by people attending Fashion Week.
£100 million: total amount organisers claim it generates for the capital's economy.
25: years since the first London Fashion Week.
68: catwalk designers holding full-scale shows at this month's event.
189: total number of exhibitors including retailers and manufacturers.
208: total number of designers, spanning the alphabet from Ada Zanditon to Zoe T's.
Reader views (7)
Imagine this article had Ken wasted money like this. What so special about the fashion industry after all it not as though we actually produce many clothes in London like we used to!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
"The 30 key players in the fashion industry come from Dubai and other Middle Eastern countries". These are hardly countries going broke due to the Recession.
Would it have been more sensible to spend the £30,000 sending Britich designers to major European fashion shows to give them the chance to show their wares in that market.
- Andrew, London W1
A great idea Boris. You have to speculate to accumulate and we should be encouraging our creatives.
Will Boris get on the catwalk himself? Lol... That I'd love to see Bo-Jo, go for it mate.
- Paul, Bromley
Every other country throughout the world pay for buyers to attend. The London economy will benifit by at least several million pounds.
Why are people so short sighted and negative. We have the best designers and pattern cutters in the world. A lousy few thousand pounds and some moaning mini puts in the negative. The olympics is now into the billions so how can anyone in their right mind compare the to?
- Davi Patterson, glasgow
After 25 years it is reasonable to expect this event to be self-financing. The Mayor should find out how much of this `Fashion` is manufactured in the UK. Or is produced in the Far East? Do the respective governments finance the Paris and Milan Fashion Weeks? Highly unlikely, their style sells itself.
- Monty, London
Why aren't they paying for themselves?
- P Staker, London
Will Boris be paying for this out of his own pocket - or (as I suspect) are the London tax payers being forced to pay for it? Will he be also be paying for spectators to fly to London for the 2012 debacle? If I were a Londoner I would take to the streets.
- R.F., Yorks, UK
