The British Fashion Council (BFC) has warned the government of the “stark reality” of the pandemic on the sector, wiping out all growth from the last decade and costing hundreds of thousands of jobs.
The BFC said the coronavirus pandemic could “hit the fashion industry twice as hard compared to the UK overall” and warned that an “entire generation of creative talent is threatened to disappear”.
Based on data from Oxford Economics, the BFC warned the government that 240,000 jobs could be lost in the industry with that number to exceed 350,000 if supply chains and consumer spending roles were taken into account.
The data also predicted sales being slashed from £118bn to £88bn in 2020.
While the BFC did welcome some of the government’s interventions such as the coronavirus business loans and furlough schemes, it said many fashion brands had “not been able to access these schemes”.
To prevent massive job losses and depressed revenues, the BFC called on the government to “consider the future” of the sector through seven measures.
It urged the government to help “keep retail open” by protecting towns and cities; fund small and medium-sized businesses; invest in innovation and research for “clean growth”; encourage responsible retailing from larger businesses; give access to finance for future-proofing; ban the payment of duty and tariffs to restart international supply lines and re-onshore responsible fashion and textile manufacturing to produce masks and other personal protective equipment.
Read more: Deep dive - Can fashion ever recover from coronavirus?
UK fashion sales will fall between 35% and 46% in 2020, according to McKinsey, which predicts that a third of global fashion players will not survive the coronavirus crisis. Read our latest deep dive to discover what’s next for the hard-hit clothing sector.
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