When luxury and high street brands call time while Shein courts the London Stock Exchange & the former Chancellor, what is going on?
By Tamara Cincik
Wholesale problems, fast fashion saturation, unpaid bills for inventory as companies file for bankruptcy. Just what is happening to the UK fashion industry?
On the one hand we have news that former Chancellor Sajid Javid has been approached by Shein to take on a role as they prepare to become the second largest float on the London Stock Exchange ever. While on the other hand, this morning The Vampire's Wife announced their immediate closure, Suzie Cave, Founder and Creative Director said today:
"After ten years as The Creative Director of The Vampire’s Wife, it is time for me to say goodbye. I say this with great sadness and want to express my undying gratitude to you all for your support. I wish to thank my extended family at The Vampire’s Wife who helped me create such beautiful things. I cannot describe how much you have all meant to me.
I love you all, Susie x."
So we have Sky News reporting that Mr Javid is among a number of senior City figures who have held talks with Donald Tang, Shein's executive chairman, in recent weeks. And City sources said that if the appointment of Mr Javid proceeded, it could see him either join Shein's board or become an adviser to the Chinese-founded company, with other names including Baroness Fairhead, the former BBC Trust chair, was also on a list of candidates drawn up by headhunters advising Shein.
One person close to the company said the identities of those being approached reflected both the seriousness with which Shein was taking the issue of corporate governance and the extent of its focus on a London listing. At the other end of the market the collapse of Matches in recent weeks has had a massive impact on the UK fashion industry, with a litany of unpaid bills to UK producers and brands, acutely impacting smaller, luxury fashion businesses. Matches was worth £400m when its founders Ruth and Tom Chapman sold it to private equity firm Apax in 2017. Meaning in a few short years a multichannel luxury UK retailer has gone from being one of the largest players in the market to worth less than a 1/4 of its value with a litany of casualties in its wake, including manufacturers for their own brand Raey, who Fashion Roundtable have heard from direct sources, due to non-payment have lost everything: factory, staff, income, and are now producing tiny volumes from their garages, or declared bankruptcy. This whole sorry saga is a stain on UK fashion.
The Vampire's Wife, the fashion brand founded by former model Susie Cave in 2014, whose metallic gowns grew to become an event dressing staple beloved by the Princess of Wales, who, for her first official joint portrait in honour of Prince William’s 40th birthday in 2022, wore The Vampire’s Wife’s emerald green Falconetti dress, a style once named by Vogue as the "dress of the decade".
The brand boasted an A-list clientele ranging from Florence Welch and Kylie Minogue to Kate Moss, Sienna Miller and Greta Gerwig and Sandra Oh as well as royalty. Princess Beatrice and Eugenie are fans, but it was the Princess of Wales who really placed the brand, which started in Brighton, East Sussex in 2014, borrowing its name from her musician husband Nick Cave's discarded book project, as internationally acclaimed.
The news comes as a blow to the British fashion industry. “Despite a period of positive growth and sales, the upheaval in the wholesale market has had dramatic implications for the brand,” read a statement from the brand.
Retailer Matches, following its £52 million sale to Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group in December which later saw it enter administration on March 7, has caused chaos for brands and had an acute impact on smaller, independent labels. Other London-based brands have demonstrated similar struggles in response to the state of the market, including Christopher Kane (who like Roksanda boasted a destination store on Mount Street close to Matchesfashion.com's flagshire 5 Carlos Place, entered administration in June 2023, and Roksanda Ilinčić, who this month found a “white knight” new buyer The Brand Group to save it. The Brand Group is headed by fashion entrepreneur and brand builder Damian Hopkins CBE.
Last June, The Vampire’s Wife showed signs of decline when HMRC called for the liquidation of the cult fashion label due to unpaid debts. It was later settled with help from the brand’s existing investors, including the co-founder of Interscope Records and Beats Electronics, Jimmy Iovine, and his wife, model Liberty Ross.
The need for a root and branch overhaul of the UK fashion industry, one which supports British made and nurtures UK talent is why Fashion Roundtable gathered evidence from our networks and roundtables to produce our sector vision. Never more important in a General election year, with a clear need for governmental focus on more than just Shein and its value add to UK IPO.
We believe these recommendations are vital if we are to reconfigure our sector into one with long term goals, ambitions and business sustainability. Read our Delivering a Sector Vision Report
RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024
Tamara Cincik attended the launch day of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024, which kicked off with sunshine and blue skies yesterday.
RHS Chelsea Flower Show represents the pinnacle of horticultural excellence, with something for everyone no matter what kind of gardener you are. With amazing garden designs, gorgeous floral displays and exclusive shopping, it’s a hotly anticipated event every year.
Tamara interviewed Zena Holloway from Rootfull about their root textiles and natural dye processes.
Find us at the Future Fabrics Expo: 25th - 26th June 2024
Since 2011, the annual Future Fabrics Expo (FFE) is the largest dedicated sourcing destination of certified, sustainably and responsibly produced materials for fashion, home and interiors.
The Expo, founded by The Sustainable Angle, is also an educational platform for understanding the impacts of our raw material and fossil fuel dependencies, sourcing responsibly and operating within planetary boundaries. FFE also provides a platform for cutting edge innovators who are developing solutions for the fashion industry of tomorrow. Our Seminar Series runs alongside the showcase amplifying the key Expo themes and featuring the insights of global thought leaders and industry pioneers throughout the value chain.
You can watch the highlights from FFE 2023 here
Patrick Grant Book Talk, 26th June 2024 in Bath
With a career in fashion spanning nearly two decades, Patrick Grant has a lot to say about our clothing, who makes it and how it’s made. The respected fashion designer, founder of Community Clothing and beloved Great British Sewing Bee judge comes to Bath to talk about Less: Stop Buying So Much Rubbish - a passionate and revealing book about loving clothes but despairing of a broken global system.
Patrick talks to Lizzie Heffer about the crisis of consumption and quality in fashion, how valuing craftsmanship and local manufacturing matters for all our futures and how we might make ourselves happier by rediscovering the joy of living with fewer, better quality things.
Fashion Roundtable’s Founder & CEO, Tamara Cincik, will be opening the event.
Job Opportunity: Public Affairs Officer at Anti-Slavery International
Anti-Slavery International are currently recruiting for an Public Affairs Officer to join their team, working on their UK corporate accountability campaigns, alongside their other UK-government focused work.
The candidate must have exceptional knowledge of how the governmental and parliamentary system in the UK works, ideally complemented though experience with the UK Parliament and/or local and national government, and strong experience in policy, public affairs or parliamentary-related role.