Brexit threat to Fashion Week as design showcase
LONDON Fashion Week is under serious threat from Brexit, legal experts revealed today.
The annual showcase of top designers could lose its status as an event where new clothing creations are unveiled.
The threat arises because laws that protect European fashion houses from unauthorised copying may no longer apply in London when Britain leaves the European Union next year.
Fashion houses that first reveal an unregistered design on the London catwalk would be at risk from copies going on sale in the EU. London Fashion Week, which was visited by the Queen on Tuesday, is worth £30 million to the capital’s economy each year and generates £100 million for designers. It also underpins London as a fashion capital alongside New
York, Milan and Paris.
A study by the Law Society, shown to the Standard, said it is
“at risk” because designers may be forced to launch new ideas in EU countries after Brexit. Catherine Teatum and Rob Jones, who founded top British label Teatum Jones, confirmed that they depend on unregistered community design rights which cover the EU to guard the exclusivity of ideas tested on the catwalk.
Ms Teatum said: “We have gone to the trouble of registering certain IP rights, such as UK and community trade marks. But we have so many original clothes and fabric designs that the cost of registering everything is simply not viable. So we rely on the protection afforded by unregistered community design rights.”
Law Society president Joe Egan said: “Providing clarity and certainty for designers and fashion houses in the UK is vital to ensuring the protection of the industry and the continued success of events like London Fashion Week.” Caroline Rush, head of the British Fashion Council, said the problem was acute because London Fashion Week came before a series of rival events in Europe, which meant that many designs have their first outings.