The inside intel on London Fashion Week SS17

London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2017 officially kicked off this morning
with the debut menswear and womenswear catwalk show from British design
label Teatum Jones. Set to run from September 16 to 20, the 64th edition of
LFW will feature 83 designers presenting their SS17 collections on
schedule – in addition to over 150 designers showcasing their designs in
the Designer Showrooms at Brewer Street Car Park – which together generate
orders of over 100 million pounds each season.

A photo posted by London Fashion Week
(@londonfashionweek) on Sep
16, 2016 at 5:50am PDT

Featuring a variety of fashion events from catwalk shows to presentations,
to ‘see now, buy now’ showcases, FashionUnited has listed the main, need-to-know figures and facts on London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2017, as well
as the womenswear fashion industry.

London Fashion Week focuses on the positives in light of Brexit

This season of LFW will see over 5,000 official guests flying in from 58
countries around the world, underlying the event’s international appeal in
light of the recent Brexit vote. The majority of the industry voted to
remain within the European Union, but following the vote to exit the EU,
most designers have decided to focus on the positives rather than the
negatives. The British Fashion Council, together with the government
continue to highlight the importance of the UK’s fashion industry, which is
one of the country’s biggest sector.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, joined forces with the British Fashion
Council this season to promote the strength of LFW and the UK fashion
industry with the campaign #LondonIsOpen. “London Fashion Week begins
today, showing that London is open to the world and is an international
leader of creativity and entrepreneurship,” said Khan. “There’s a fantastic
range of designers and talent on the schedule this season, highlighting the
very best the industry has to offer – from big brands to independent
retailers, the London fashion scene has never been more diverse. The
fashion industry epitomises all that is great about the capital and I’m
delighted to see the British Fashion Council bring the industry together to
support our #LondonIsOpen campaign.”

A video posted by London Fashion Week
(@londonfashionweek) on Sep
16, 2016 at 12:05am PDT

Prime Minister also shared her hopes for the future
of the British fashion industry during a reception at 10 Downing Street
Thursday night. According to recent figures published in June, the British
fashion industry’s worth to the British economy has increased 8 percent,
growing from contributing 26 billion pounds in 2013 to 28 billion pounds in
2014. This increase is more than the UK gross domestic product (GDP) value,
which only grew 5 percent during the same period. In addition, employment
in the industry has grown from 790,000 to 880,000 – double the national
average, thanks to growth in retail, manufacturing and wholesale according
to the 2016 Oxford Economics.

UK Fashion Industry worth more than UK GDP at 28 billion pounds

Womenswear in the UK continues to do particularly well, with ready-to-wear
womenswear sales hitting 27 billion pounds in 2015, according to retail
research firm Mintel. This figure is predicted to increase by 23 percent by
2020 to reach 32 billion pounds, which is significantly more than its male
counterpart, which is predict to hit 17.3 billion pounds in 2020. Although
consumers in Birmingham and Newcastle within the UK’s top 10
cities, shoppers in London remained the most positive and likely to spend
more on fashion within the next 12 months, according to a report from
Savills and intu.

Although studies show that the more satisfy shoppers are with their local
fashion retail offering the less likely they are to shop online, UK
consumers still managed to spend 12.4 billion pounds on fashion online
within the country in 2015, reports Mintel. This is 16 percent more than
the 10.7 billion pounds spend in 2014. As more designers and fashion labels
shift their business models in order to offer consumers instant
gratification by offering collections for sale the moment they are shown on
the catwalk, this amount is only likely to continue growing, as consumers
seek out immediacy in terms of fashion trends.

A photo posted by London Fashion Week
(@londonfashionweek) on Sep
16, 2016 at 6:15am PDT

With most designers and retailers live-streaming their shows
or presentations to viewers at home, London Fashion Week continues to be
more and more accessible to the public as well. This LFW will see a total
of 20 Ocean Outdoor screens placed in public spots across Birmingham,
Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and Manchester, featuring special
fashion week content for audiences to watch on the go. Unsurprisingly this
marketing push, led by designers and fashion week organisers alike has also
led to an increase public interaction with LFW online. Last London Fashion
Week, which took place in February, saw 128,162 mentions of #LFW on Twitter
and over 75,000 images tagged #LFW on Instagram – figures which are more
than likely to increase this season.