Ok, so only 25% of my subscribed readers are in the UK, but I think the outcome of our election tomorrow will matter globally, besties. Especially in the fashion industry.
(Also check out if you haven’t this 101/starter-pack to fashion/fashion culture/fashion industry Substack. Current greatest hits of the best writers in the space)
Dazed is right, there does seem to have been a decline in the scale/velocity of celeb endorsements so far this election year. Also, feeling like I’m seeing way fewer electioneering posters and door-knocks than usual where I live (maybe because Hackney’s such a strong + safe Labour seat, and it’s looking nailed-on). But I tell you what, fashion businesses are watching the polls like never before.
Wherever you live and whatever your politics, the political landscape of both the UK and France are critical to global fashion/retail culture. They’re two of the fashion system’s key territories. And they’re both going to the polls this week.
LVMH alone accounts for a bigger share of French exports than the entire French agricultural sector. More LVMH handbags and perfume are shipped out of France than all that wine, all that cheese, all that Champagne. Put together.
In the markets, French stocks have been tanking ever since the election was announced and there’s a lot of hand-wringing going on about how the worldwide fashion economy might fare in the potentially very new, very uncertain (read scary and intense) French political landscape that seems to be emerging.
Little wonder the air of quiet desperation. The global fashion and luxury industries have had a rough few years: Brexit’s never-ending ripple effects, pandemic pandemonium, war-disrupted supply-chains, high streets withering on the vine, dead malls…plus a serious, sustained shift in consumer values that’s giving rise to the circular economy (whoop), increasing shame around overconsumption (the fall of #haul videos) and ever-tightening screws on corporate ethics as we all become better informed (and angrier, maybe). Within all that, the intense pressure to conjure up *growth* during this cost of living crisis (which btw don’t you think is an outrageously capitalist-coded name for an economic slowdown?). Some ofc are doing just that (Chanel with the price-hikes and the 15% up YOY and the 20bn rev) and a lot aren’t (RIP many independents, many multi-brand retailers).
Good news then that the British Fashion Council is being so loud, and so clear, in pushing the incoming UK administration to take the fashion industry’s pressures - and potential - more seriously. Its POV is that “the UK fashion industry has always been underestimated” by the government. I hope the CFDA is as pointed when the US election rolls round in November.
What does the fashion industry want from the politicians?
The BFC has made five simple pleas to Britain’s new leadership, incoming tomorrow night/the following morning:
- Restore tax-free shopping to encourage tourists to shop luxury fashion in the UK (no chance, according to the manifestos).
- Reform business rates (which are by far the highest in Europe) to make brick+mortar retailing less wildly expensive (Labour has a better alternative, but it’s confusing people; Tories said they might give a bit of help to small indy retailers).
- Invest in and support the export of UK fashion designers’ work internationally (badly needed, no solid plans from anyone).
- Support the fashion education sector and invest in the next gen of skilled craft workers, and creatives, and business leaders (ditto).
- Pass enforceable law around sustainable business practices and net-zero targets (I mean, maybe…remains hard to say).
Then there’s the always-hot potato of immigration. As BFC chief exec Caroline Rush’s rightly says, the UK’s historic ease of immigration and multiculturalism is a major reason why British fashion is so good, and why Britain has been able to build its powerful “reputation as a global creative superpower.”
I’m off to the polls tomorrow AM in the crazy urban village hall that feels more like a step back in time vs a place where the future gets decided. So I’ll leave you with Bob Geldof:
“What we so desperately need in our Parliament is clever, committed, capable people. We have had enough of leery shysters, buffoons and tiresome w*****s.”
All in favour, say aye.
Thanks for reading/see you on the other side.
Beth
God the stress last night pre-exit polls 🥵 Feeling pretty relieved now but also weirdly homesick from it all. Fingers crossed for the French family this weekend… Great to see the BFC’s 5 pleas, hope real change does happen now.
We have our First Lady on the cover of Vogue. Movie star, designers, musicians being for or against a candidate doesn’t influence my vote. I guess because I am older…