The not-for-profit body that promotes British fashion at home and abroad and runs London Fashion Week, based in London.
The British Fashion Council, or BFC, is an organisation that supports and promotes the British fashion industry. Its best-known event is London Fashion Week, held twice a year to show British design to an international audience. It also runs programmes for new designers, including NEWGEN, which supports emerging talent, and the Institute of Positive Fashion, which helps businesses prepare for sustainable change. Past NEWGEN names mentioned in coverage include Alexander McQueen, Erdem, JW Anderson, Simone Rocha and Grace Wales Bonner.
The BFC was founded in 1983 as a non-profit company. Wikipedia says its purpose is to "promote British fashion in the UK and internationally" and to enable "sustainable growth" of the industry. The new chief executive, Laura Weir, who started in April 2025, said the BFC aims to "unlock and elevate creative talent". Her stated priorities include supporting emerging and established designers, strengthening the pipeline of British creative talent, and tackling environmental responsibility, representation and inclusion. Before joining she was creative director at Selfridges and a fashion journalist.
The BFC works in London, where London Fashion Week is held and where most of the British designers it supports are based. A news item says the UK government gave NEWGEN £2 million in funding in 2023, the first direct grant the BFC had received from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and a later report says a further £3 million was pledged to extend NEWGEN to 2029. We did not confirm its office address from a first-party page. Its work reaches designers across the UK, not only those in London.
On people, David Pemsel became chair in September 2022, following Stephanie Phair, and Caroline Rush led the BFC for 15 years before handing over to Ms Weir in 2025. Ms Rush described NEWGEN as an R&D programme for the global industry. The council works with designers, retailers, brands and government departments, so staff spend a lot of time bringing different parts of fashion together. The BFC does not appear to publish a values statement beyond its aims. These descriptions come from the BFC's leaders as reported by the press.
Jobs at an organisation like this are different from those in a factory or shop. They include event and production teams who organise London Fashion Week, people who run designer support and mentoring programmes, press and communications staff, sponsorship and partnership managers, researchers, and finance and operations teams. If you like fashion but want to work on the industry's structure, events or policy rather than on a single brand, it is a good example. Check the BFC website for current roles.
Website: www.britishfashioncouncil.co.uk
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