The effects of Brexit on the Modelling Industry

1.)  Educational institutes; Lack of valuable funding, no clothes equals no models. 

The European Regional  Development Fund (ERDF) fund has provided millions to London fashion. In particular the London college of Fashion receives significant financial benefits from the fund and uses it to sponsor initiatives which help graduates realise global opportunities, whilst improving growth and balancing innovation with commerical potential. Furthermore, the ERDF sponsors the British Fashion Council, the organiser behind London Fashion Week, LCM and other key sponsorship including the NEWGEN recipient and the BFC/GQ designer menswear annual fund. With over £5 million of fundraising in the last few years it has definitely provided vital resources, offering a platform to London most talented designers, stylists and MUA's. Why is this a problem for modelling?  Well, with such little funding there will be a lack of creative classes, in turn less homegrown talent, less products and a lack of collections. With less designers and clothing involved, it will lead to further competition in the modelling industry especially during show season to even model submissions for magazine; with funding already being cut  the ratio of photographers to models will be hugely unbalanced. “At a time when London’s affordability is already putting tremendous pressure on our creative sector, we need to be opening up to opportunity, not closing it down,” said Frances Corner, head of London College of Fashion, UAL, to BoF". To conclude, without funding there will be a huge portion of models left out of many fashion related projects. 

2.) The effect on international business and models.

There are many British designers that are involved with a number of global fashion powerhouses; for example Jonathan Anderson is one designer based in England who flies out to Spain to work on Loewe. The international formula is replicated throughout the fashion industry - from journalists casting flights for the next shows, Global photographers travelling to shoot the latest models, the need for international talent, pre-Brexit Christopher Kane stressed to the NY times how unfair it is for international creative people living in the UK. "All these amazing seamstresses from Italy, from all over Europe, that have been working with us for five years … How much would it cost for us to get them visas?  and of course models moving every other week in order to  take jobs across the globe, it will truly effect international models wanting to test the waters on the London modelling scene. Both modelling and fashion depends on free movement.  The government and Teresa May in particular will need to negotiate foreign deals. If this falls through and fails, we would have to do a points-based system, essentially leading to more hoops haven to be jumped through and a mountain of unnecessary paper work - A turn off point for any leading international 

model agency if you are looking to be put on placement in a different country.  

3.) Clothes could be more expensive, leading to more model competition, 

The pound was the first crisis when the Brexit result was revealed - since then it has continoulsy decreased in value. In October the pound was the worst performing currency on the world; how does this affect the fashion industry? It means the price of the T-shirt you have been eyeing up might get bumped up, the main fear is that plenty of designers outsource  their production to foreign countries and, if the exchange rate falls, these costs will increase in real terms. Essentially, the only way to recuperate those costs would be to charge more for the final product, meaning you’d end up paying more for the exact same item. With the possibility of clothing manufacturing decreasing due to it becoming more expensive, the designers would consequently have smaller budgets for funding shows and shoots. Due to clothing being the main cost or in turn not spending on production costs, making less clothing each season, meaning less reasons to hire as many models for shoots or shows. 

4.) Brexit =  ‘A SERIOUS RISK TO GROWTH’ 

The global market is incredibly important to UK businesses; contextually, the Chinese market is one of the largest and most lucrative in the world. Gavin Haig, the boss of Belstaff, spoke to the Independent pre the referendum and stated fears that Brexit would “add complexity and barriers to our business – not good for trade, employees or customers.” Basically, brands may be forced to pay increased fees to send their products global and foreign investors would be deterred. The G7 even issued an official warning that Brexit could ‘pose a serious risk to growth’ – one which would undoubtedly affect the fashion industry. The Brexit plan is still in talks, however one thing for certain is in order to maintain our relationships with the 60 countries we regularly trade with, we will have to negotiate new agreements with both European and non-EU countries. 

The UK has forever been known as risk takers, the exit from the EU was a risk that we will have to stand by together,