The whole world held their breath as they waited for the results of the June 23, 2016 referendum. The outcome was a narrow win in favour of Britain leaving the EU with 52% against 48% of the total votes. This result brought a lot of concern to Britain, and the fashion industry was not left out of it.
The UK fashion industry has been a prime mover in the economy contributing £26billion in 2014 and £28billion in 2015. This industry was also responsible for employing nearly 900,000 workers for jobs spanning from manufacturing to retail.
Although the survey conducted by the British Fashion Council (BFC) states that 90% of the fashion designers planned to vote to remain in EU, the industry will now have to face what’s coming with Brexit.
But does UK fashion have the chance to survive Brexit? I believe there’s a good chance. Here are some of the reasons why I believe the UK fashion will survive Brexit –
- The devaluation of the Pound could lead to an increase in sales from foreign buyers
Since the final results of Brexit, the value of the pound took a nose dive. Although this caused a serious panic in the fashion industry, fashion designers saw an increase in the volume of their sales. The reason for this was that the drop in the value of the Pound made the fashion items in Britain appear cheaper to the buyers paying in Euro, Dollars, and other currencies. Thus, tourists in Britain found fashion items more affordable and this encouraged more of them to buy from the British market.
- Encouragement of growth in the fashion industry
As more foreign clients from different countries like France, Italy and Hong Kong among others, are buying more fashion items from Britain, there are signs of an increase in the growth of the fashion industry. Some fashion designers are experiencing an increase in their businesses.
The price difference will definitely be a huge bonus for the British designers, since their price is comparatively more attractive than the prices in other European countries.
However, London will always be known as a fashion capital with talented designers. So even if there were an increase in the price of fashion items in Britain, this will not stop the fashion conscious from owning the latest trendy pieces.
- There’ll be a huge boom in online retail with a large foreign client base
With Brexit the common trend seems to be a shift to an increase in foreign patronage, so e-commerce stores that have a majority of clients from countries other than the UK will have a mega boost. Of course, price is the main determining factor in this case.
So will UK fashion survive Brexit? I’m pretty optimistic that the future of UK fashion is bright. And I predict a massive boom in the fashion industry.
What are your thoughts? Do you agree with the future of UK fashion being bright? Pls share your thoughts in the comment section below. I love reading your comments.
Thanks for reading and commenting as always.
