London Fashion Week: An Important Part of UK Industries
By: Javier Mateo

LONDON, Jan 6, 2004/ FW/ --- The British Royal family was again on the news during the holiday season, though this time it was more about their pets.

Princess Anne’s bull terrier, after biting a maid went for Pharos, one of the 10 Welsh Corgis that the Queen owns. Pharos’s wounds were so severe and the royal vets cannot save the Corgi.

The Queen was so saddened by her dog’s death, that on a newscast she was quoted, “There will be an empty seat on the table tonight.”

With all the press attention given to the Royals, one might think that they are the only “industry” in London whom the press covers. That is very far from the truth.

London Fashion Week, with its 50 catwalk shows and 152 exhibitors at The London Designers’ Exhibition garners media coverage equals or exceeds most major news and international sporting events.

In fact, worldwide media coverage alone is worth over £50m per season.

According to the British Fashion Council, the clothing industry remains one of the UK’s most important industries.

In 2002 it produced almost £5 billion worth of goods and employed some 127,000. If the textile industry is added, the combined sectors produce £11 billion worth of goods at manufacturers’ prices and employ almost 225,000 people.

Clothing and textile is Britain’s 13th largest export, bigger than food, alcohol, and iron & steel.

At retail level, spending on clothing accounts for 5% of expenditure on all consumer items. In 2001 over £18.6 billion was spent on womenswear, £8.8 billion on menswear and over £6 billion on childrenswear.

With those figures, it is easy to understand why the UK in general and London in particular takes the fashion industry seriously.

From Feb 14-19, the fashion flock will descend to London’s Duke of York’s Square to witness the Fall 2004 collections.

With Julien Macdonald, Arkadius, Ben de Lisi, John Rocha, Jasper Conran, Pringle of Scotland, and Paul Smith headlining the shows, the Fall 2004 season promises to showcase London designers’ creative and avant-garde edge.

See you there!