LONDON — Jane Shepherdson, former brand director of Topshop, is ready to help emerging British designers succeed.
Together with British retail entrepreneur Harold Tillman, Shepherdson has set up the Fashion Enterprise Fund, part of the London College of Fashion’s Centre for Fashion Enterprise.
The fund will provide mentoring to emerging London-based designers who want to take their businesses to the next level. It will also work to attract investors who can provide designers with financial support of as much as 250,000 pounds, or $482,000 at current exchange, per designer.
The fund’s board will provide advice about all aspects of business, including marketing, accountancy and international sales strategies. “We’re looking for fashion labels that have the ability to understand reality, and form their own business,” Tillman told WWD. Tillman, who is the chairman of the new fund, added, “We’re giving these businesses [services] for free.”
Shepherdson, who is in Australia, said in a statement: “It’s extremely important to support young design talent.” She will sit alongside Tillman, owner of the British clothing brand Jaeger, and Lord Dennis Stevenson, the chairman of banking group HBOS.
On Shepherdson’s watch, Topshop launched its New Generation program, which provides young designers with the financial support to show their collections during London Fashion Week. The retailer also began to carry diffusion lines by young designers in its Boutique area.
The Fashion Enterprise Fund is expected to begin investing by the end of this year. As soon as the fledgling fashion businesses are profitable, those profits will be channeled back into the fund, and into investors’ pockets.
“Investors find it notoriously difficult to place a value on a young, creative brand,” said Tillman, who will work on the project with a full-time fund management team.
“This substantial venture capital fund will be directed by those who understand the value of young designers. London is a hotbed of creativity, but starved of funds, leading homegrown talent to fly the nest,” he said.
Typically, 10 designers will be in the fund’s portfolio at any one time. Tillman added the support for designers will last until the businesses are succeeding on their own, or had attracted new commercial interest.
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In the meantime, the Centre for Fashion Enterprise will continue with the program it already has in place, which provides initial support for designers with grants from the British government.
So far, that program has supported London names such as Marios Schwab, Basso & Brooke and Erdem.