Dezeen Magazine

Tailor's table

Lobbying platform for UK fashion industry launches to influence Brexit negotiations

A new lobbying body called Fashion Roundtable has been formed to try to influence the UK government during Brexit talks.

Former stylist and parliamentary researcher Tamara Cincik is launching a political consultancy to provide representation for the industry – which generates £28 billion annually for the UK economy and employs approximately 880,000 people – while Brexit negotiations take place over the coming months and years.

Cincik was appointed as a parliamentary researcher over a year ago, after working as a stylist for more than 10 years, and decided that the fashion industry needed a voice during this critical period.

She therefore set up Fashion Roundtable as a lobbying platform to influence decisions the government makes that could affect the sector.

"I spent over a decade as an integrated member of the international fashion industry and as the results of the Brexit vote were announced, I recognised the damage Brexit could do to our global industry and our community," she said.

"I created Fashion Roundtable to play my part in supporting the continued growth and success of the entire worldwide fashion supply chain in this challenging time."

Fashion Roundtable will release its first free report for businesses after this season's Paris Fashion Week, which ends 3 October 2017, titled "Is the Single Market the only option for Fashion?".

Future reports will tackle topics like immigration and student visas, and provide information about the ins and outs of negotiating a post-EU trade deal.

The consultancy will also work closely with SHOWstudio, the London-based fashion-film website founded by photographer Nick Knight, providing the company with political briefings and updates.

"Whilst our consultancy is designed to assist businesses with political intelligence and public affairs work, we also believe in supporting the fashion community as a whole," said Cincik. "We want to represent the diversity and brilliance of UK fashion in the global market."

"We have one chance to get Brexit right for UK and European fashion and I believe Fashion Roundtable has an important role to play in that process," she added.

A lot of discussion has taken place around how the creative industries should tackle the UK's departure from the European Union.

After the result of the EU referendum was announced in June 2016, Dezeen held a Brexit design summit that resulted in a manifesto, delivered to the government to highlight the importance of architecture and design to the country.