The British Fashion Council (BFC) has announced the shortlist for the BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund and it’s between Astrid Andersen, Christopher Raeburn, E.Tautz, Matthew Miller and Sibling. The committee, which included the Financial Times’ Charlie Porter, The Guardian’s Helen Seamons and Alexander McQueen’s Jonathan Akeroyd, decided these were the British brands who had the most potential to go global and so would best put to use the award’s £150,000 grant. The winners will also be mentored for 12 months, getting guidance on branding, leadership, commercial retail, e-tail and wholesale and digital innovation.
Dylan Jones OBE, Editor of British GQ and Chair of London Collections Men commented, “Over the last year the global menswear market has grown faster than womenswear showing that there has never been a more important time to drive support for accomplished British designer menswear businesses. The opportunities surrounding menswear are still underexploited, which is why we at GQ thought it was so important to launch this menswear fund. It is fantastic to be working with Vertu and the BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund panel to lead the charge when it comes to high level mentoring and support. With this year’s outstanding shortlist of talented designers it’ll be hard to predict the winner – each of them is in good shape to scoop fashion’s biggest menswear prize.”