Commercialising Creativity– Creating a Model for Success for British Fashion Designers; The British Fashion Council (BFC)

The British Fashion Council (BFC) has published a report entitled "Commercialising Creativity– Creating a Model for Success for British Fashion Designers." The British Fashion Council (BFC), commissioned this report in collaboration with the London Business School (LBS) to investigate whether there is a formula for successfully commercialising creativity in the fashion industry.

The Report counsels emerging British designers to close the gap between creativity and business. The report is geared towards revealing the “commercial secrets of success” for fashion businesses and aims to highlight the importance of commercial guidance and specialist business partners for emerging designers starting their own business.

Through interviews with a broad range of designers, businesses and industry stakeholders, including Sian Westerman, Rothschild; Andrea O’Donnell, Lane Crawford; Christopher Suarez, Nicholas Kirkwood; Helen David and Jason Broderick, Harrods; Marigay McKee, Saks Fifth Avenue, the report offers recommendations for Designers, the British Fashion Council and Government. 

The report’s seven key recommendations to designers are: 

•    Behave as a business
•    Recognise the importance of product development
•    Develop the brand’s identity and support it with a marketing and communications plan
•    Understand and address the challenges of production
•    Develop a focused sales and distribution strategy
•    Understand the importance of cashflow, funding and financing
•    Secure specialist business partners 

The authors of the report, Alessandra Basso and Alejandra Caro, MBA students from London Business School, say: “The aim of this report is to share…the importance for young creative talents to think about fashion with a business perspective….” Caroline Rush, CEO of the BFC commented: “We commissioned this report as a guide for designers who are thinking about or have recently decided to set up their own designer fashion business. It provides a check list for young designers and will help them evaluate the kind of business they want to be and the questions they should be addressing from the start.”

The Goss-IPgirl feels this is a timely report for the British Fashion industry especially when fashion design itself has the attention of government policymakers, as parliament considers greater protection for the design industry in the form of the new UK IP Bill to counter the harm associated with copying of designs so rampant across the design industry. Yet among the recommendations canvassed by the authors aside from a sentence that stated ‘be aware of trading implications such as  exchange rates and trademark registration,’ there was no mention of the value of intellectual property, which is one of the key factors that helps drive commercial success across the industry for both large and small fashion houses. The Goss-IPgirl feels this is a serious oversight and certainly would have liked to see greater attention and focus on the relevance and importance of IP in relationship to the success of designers building a strong business & brand strategy.  The report includes case studies on the success behind British designers Nicholas Kirkwood and Mary Katrantzou and the authors’ view on how British global brands Jimmy Choo and Stella McCartney found their unique selling points. Yet each of these famous British designers have used IP law to register trademarks for their brands as a strategy to protect their creative identity.

The Goss-IPgirl attended the Westminster Media Forum event “Next steps for the British Fashion Industry - Intellectual Property, Manufacturing and Talent,” event late last year on emerging public policy issues facing the British fashion industry. And as one of the guest speakers Dids Macdonald, Chief Executive Officer, ACID (Anti Copying in Design) highlighted a ‘a business plan is not a business plan without an effective IP strategy.’ 

The Goss-IPgirl feels that for emerging designers, intellectual property rights are of particular importance to this industry. Correct protection may help a designer to establish themselves in a market that is highly competitive, which can be used as a key strategy in helping build the longevity of an emerging designer. For these designers, it is significant that the wide and immediate availability of copies of their works don’t exist without attribution, as potential copying may could have an impact on a designer’s economic and cultural capital, which could undermine their reputation as a cultural producer, before they even start out. Among these recommendations the Goss-IPgirl feels that in developing a business plan and a commercial strategy, education is vital in helping a designer to know and understand when exactly there creative outputs are generating intellectual property.

Despite the BFC new report lacking a concrete focus on IP, the Goss-IPgirl feels this is an excellent resource for the fashion design community and hopes in the future that the British Fashion Council will pay greater attention to the highlighting the value and importance of intellectual property for designers in the creative economy.

For more information visit the British Fashion Council’s website

The report is available online as an industry guide for fashion designers.