BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund partners with China’s JD.com

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Sep 19, 2017

The British Fashion Council has unveiled a new partnership that will help British talent access the important Chinese market and back their growth ambitions.

The partnership is an initiative between the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund and JD Fashion, the new fashion platform of China’s largest retailer JD.com.

Launched earlier this year, JD Fashion aims to expand the company’s global fashion presence and bring more brands to China. It builds on JD.com’s increased focus on luxury goods and its reputation for not tolerating counterfeits.

The platform will help designers that are part of the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund to enter an often difficult to navigate Chinese market. The programme will kick off with the 2018 Fund winners, who are likely to be announced next April.

Caroline Rush, BFC chief executive said: “The Chinese market is extremely important to our designers. This partnership with JD Fashion is very exciting as it will enable us to offer to the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund expertise on how to best penetrate the Chinese market. JD.com is a company that is known for protecting its brands against counterfeits, something very important as we need to make sure that the creativity and excellence of our designers is protected.”

With more than 258.3 million customers, JD.com is a valuable partner for the British Fashion Council, as China is the second largest consumer and luxury market in the world and the interest from Chinese consumers for British designers is growing.

Xia Ding, President of JD Fashion commented: “We believe strongly in partnering with designers throughout their careers, from helping them get their start in the industry, to entering the Chinese market and building their brands, to protecting their IP. This marks a starting point for what we expect to be a deep, long-term relationship with the British fashion community.”

Established in 2008, the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund aims to discover new talent and accelerate the development of the next leading British brand. Previous winners include Christopher Kane, Erdem and Mary Katrantzou.

Applications for the 2018 BFV/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund will open later this year.