Fashion and textile design

Fashion designers and textile designers help create the clothes, soft furnishings and functional materials that the UK spends millions of pounds on each year.

Fashion and textiles are big business in the UK.  In 2008 alone, our fashion and textile industries produced £8.6bn worth of goods. And the fashion industry is the second biggest employer in the UK, not surprising when you consider that UK consumers spent £46bn on clothing and footwear in 2008.

While retailers like Topshop and Primark focus on regularly changing designs, and taking advantage of the latest trends, to capture the imagination and money of the millions of us who shop on the High Street, there is still a strong market for more expensive designer goods. In 2008, the designer-wear market was worth £2.06bn of the £29.2bn total worth of the UK clothing sector.

In recent times, online retail has provided a major impetus of growth for the fashion industry. According to the Mintel Online Fashion Report August 2009, the online fashion market was expected to be worth £4.1bn in 2009. Online retailers like ASOS and Net a Porter have buoyed sales in this area from both the high street and designer ends of the spectrum. Later on, we’ll explore in more depth the effect of the internet on how fashion design evolves.

So fashion and textile designers can make plenty of money, but they can also make statements with the things they design. Punk, emo, goth and retro fashion can say a lot about the person who’s wearing it, and fashion designers like to shout loudly about the ethics, origin and attitude of their creations. We’ll explore more of what makes fashion ethical, sustainable and inclusive.

Textile designers can seem like artists or scientists. The materials and processes they exploit to create colour, pattern and shape can make their work seem like alchemy but their ability to turn recycled materials into aesthetically pleasing fabrics requires artistry and training. Read on to find out what Harris Tweed, textiles that dissolve and fabric for your sofa tell us about the UK textile industry and its designers.