The British Fashion Council and eBay have joined forces to launch BFC Contemporary.
BFC Contemporay aims to strengthen the UK’s contemporary ready-to-wear and accessory offering by providing fashion designers with a programme of mentorship and commercial opportunities.
The British Fashion Council and eBay will work closely with the selected designers to support and build their strategies, focusing on brand concepts, production, budgets, scalability, online and offline growth and consumer experience. The mentoring sessions will be tailored to the needs of each designer including access to pro-bono expertise from industry specialists.
The 2014 BFC Contemporary recipients are, Alexis Barrell, Georgia Hardinge, Paper London, Prism and Zoë Jordan
The new scheme has been created in response to increasing demand for worldwide contemporary fashion. The participants were selected for their creative excellence, commercial potential and originality in the contemporary arena.
As part of the launch season, each designer will create a limited edition item that captures the essence of their signature aesthetic. To celebrate London Fashion Week these items will be sold in a limited edition run, on the first ever BFC Contemporary shop on eBay UK in September. The BFC Contemporary shop will be located within the new Fashion Collective destination on eBay UK; a dedicated space that hosts a wide selection of clothing, shoes and accessories, directly available from a variety of recognised retailers and brands.
This is the second time the BFC has partnered with eBay. In 2012, eBay sponsored the BFC’s Fashion Forward initiative.
Initiatives like this go way beyond giving a few designers some exposure on eBay however. It’s all about positioning eBay as a brand associated with fashion and every fashionista that who follows the BFC will associate BFC Contemporary with eBay and hopefully put some bids in. That can only be a good thing for all sellers.
