The British Fashion Council has named its 2024 grant recipients for the BFC Fashion Trust, a charitable initiative aimed at accelerating designers’ growth through investments and mentorship. Grants are awarded to brands that have “identified a specific area within their business” that they plan on growing and delivering within a set time period.
This year’s winners are Completedworks, Conner Ives, E.L.V. Denim, Helen Kirkum, Labrum London and Tove.
“A huge congratulations to the 2024 BFC Fashion Trust recipients. We are thrilled to support the recipients as they grow specific areas of their business, enabling them to develop their strategy and become globally successful brands,” Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council, said. “This group of designers embody creativity, innovation and agility and it’s been inspiring to watch them tackle the industry’s key issues and thrive in a turbulent landscape. We look forward to seeing their continued impact.”
E.L.V. Denim is known for taking unwanted jeans destined for landfill before turning them into modern pieces. The sustainable brand—short for East London Vintage—was founded by fashion stylist Anna Foster in 2017 as a way to “transform” discarded denim into updated garments.
Since its inception in 2011, the BFC Fashion Trust has awarded over 3 million pounds (roughly $3.8 million) to over 58 designer businesses to “promote business growth and fund the implementation of practical solutions,” the organization said. That includes long-term strategic plans on focuses including e-commerce, marketing, production and sampling. Previous recipients include Chopova Lowena, Christopher Kane and Molly Goddard, among others.
This year’s recipients were selected from a judging panel from a shortlist of designers identified by a sift panel, the foundation said. Yvie Hutton, director of membership and designer relations for the British Fashion Council chaired the panel. Judges included Anna Orsini, strategic consultant for the British Fashion Council; Daniel Peters, founder and lead strategist at Fashion Minority Report; Laura Strain, chief operating officer at the British Fashion Council; Narmina Marandi, investor, philanthropist and co-chair of the BFC Foundation fundraising committee; Scott Morrison, founder of Boom!; Sian Westerman, senior advisor at Rothschild and executive board for the British Fashion Council; Sylvie Freund-Pickavance, group strategy and business development director at Value Retail; and Tania Fares, co-founder at the Fashion Trust Arabia and Fashion Trust U.S. and co-chair of the BFC Foundation fundraising committee.