UKFE joins BCIA as dreams begin to come true

Retail Bulletin reports that, in the first phase of his plan to create a single voice for the fashion and textile industry Peter Lucas, chairman of the British Clothing Industry Association (BCIA), has announced that UK Fashion Exports (UKFE) has been brought into the BCIA and that talks are progressing well with representatives of the textile sector. The combined expertise of BCIA and UKFE is said to be able to provide members with a wide range of services covering legal, technical, health and safety and employment issues, not to mention import/export, sales and marketing, shows and exhibitions and training and development. Adds Lucas:

"There are many other organisations that do a number of these things, but it would be more efficient if we did a lot more of them together, so that when we, the industrialists get together, there are a significant number of us at the same place and time to share our experiences, rather than us participating in a series of smaller gatherings".

Fashionista feels that this all adds up to a lot of sense. The British fashion industry is already divided up into so many sectors, each with so many players in it; anything that makes best use of shared resources and avoids duplication of effort and expertise is surely to be welcomed.