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Boris Johnson's decision to fly in foreign buyers to London Fashion Week has generated £18.5 million in sales, it was claimed today.
At the last event in February, 40 buyers and 46 journalists were brought over from the US, Japan, France, Italy, the Middle East, Russia, China, South Korea, Brazil and India.
The flights and accommodation cost the taxpayer,
British Airways and investors £110,000. In the months running up to May, all of the buyers placed orders, including those from major department stores with up to 60 outlets.
The main orders came from France, because of the strong euro, where more than £5 million worth of fashion was bought by department stores including
Galaries Lafayette and Printemps.
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Buyers from American store Seven NY also put in orders and the week gained publicity in French Vogue, Elle USA and the website style.com. There
were also orders from Italy, China and the Middle East.
The total amount generated by all buyers after February's Fashion Week was nearly £100 million.
This time major players from the American market are set to be targeted. As part of his drive to promote London's showpiece style event, Mr Johnson last night hosted a reception celebrating the capital's creative sector as Asprey jewellers in New York.
Andrea Bernholtz, President of the Rock & Republic fashion line, was among the audience at the Madison Avenue event to hear the Mayor speak.
“I want to set aside this ancient focus on rivalry between New York and London and look at the incredible cultural synergy that exists,” the Mayor said.
Johnson, who recently appeared on the cover of a special edition of Elle magazine in the UK, will officially open London Fashion Week at Somerset
House on Friday.
Today City Hall said the spending on the “International Guest Programme” at the last Fashion Week was justified by not only the sales, but international media coverage worth £15.5 million — a figure based on an industry model of the worth of pages in newspapers, magazine and mentions on television.
This included a “London issue” of Vogue China wor th more than £100,000.
In total the figures, released by the British Fashion Council, represent a 30-fold return, adding to the revenue generated as a result of hotels, restaurants and other services used by the industry during London Fashion Week.
London Development Agency Marketing Group Director Lurene Joseph said: “Fashion plays a big part in London's economic success.
"It is fantastic that our investment in the British Fashion Council has generated such impressive results, with growing sales from London Fashion Week and new designers becoming established businesses, reinforcing London's international reputation for cutting-edge design.”
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Reader views (1)
This is harder detail than has been released in the past: congratulations on getting hold of it. My long comment (google "Indymedia London Fashion Week") links to British Fashion Council's previous statements which are easy to ridicule. Their only hard figures are in column inches and reports of sales are use words like "preliminary enquiries" or "in the region of". They forget to state a figure for the number of buyers who visited.
There's one important point which This Is London readers should know. Your readers subsidise London Fashion Week but it doesn't just sell British Fashion. Terra Plana shoes are usually made in China for example but get into the "ethical" section; Burberry closed its Welsh polo shirt factory but still sells Chinese polo shirts using contacts gained at London Fashion Week. This is bad for manufacturing jobs and bad for UK designers, who need access to local factories.
- John Robertson, London SW14 8BP, 27/04/2010 10:52
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