Simon Cotton

The UK Fashion & Textile Association is the largest network for UK fashion and textiles, bringing together designers, manufacturers, agents and retailers to promote their businesses and our industry throughout the UK and internationally. UKFT supports companies throughout the UK which cover menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, lingerie beachwear, accessories, footwear and textiles. Our membership includes designers and companies who manufacture their products in the UK, as well as those that have their collections made elsewhere. Many of UKFT’s members are major international brands but a large part of our work is with smaller companies, helping to build the industry of tomorrow.

The Sustainable Fibre Alliance(SFA) is a non-profit international organisation that promotes global sustainability standards for cashmere in order to restore grasslands and transform the complex supply chain of cashmere, from herders to retailers. The social and environmental impacts of modern cashmere production are enormous. Most cashmere is produced in areas that are overgrazed, which causes emissions of CO2 from grassland soils and desertification and reduces animal welfare. Desertification also exacerbates economic hardship for nomadic herders and drives them into poverty and displacement. The Sustainable Fibre Alliance(SFA) was established to bring together supply chain actors to address these concerns collaboratively. The aim of this collaboration is to secure cashmere as an important future source of income for herders, while enabling brands and retailers to be able to continue to benefit from its luxury status. Development of the Sustainable Cashmere Standard is being led by SFA. The process is open to all interested stakeholders, through public consultations. Contact SFA: standards@sustainablefibre.org

We are Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), an ambitious organisation supporting economic and community development across half of Scotland from Shetland to Argyll, and the Outer Hebrides to Moray. We help businesses and community organisations across our region to develop and grow. And we support businesses looking to locate and expand in our region too. Our flexible support includes advice, funding, and property options to meet your needs. We can help you make the right connections, develop your workforce and skills, increase productivity, and adapt through innovation or benefit from climate action. Whatever your business needs, there’s no better place to base yourself than the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. *** We welcome your opinions and contributions on our platform, and we don’t delete, moderate or block content as long as posts: 1. respect other people. Comments should not be malicious or offensive in nature, and should not constitute a personal attack on any identifiable person’s or group’s character/s or professional ability; 2. dont constitute anti-social behaviour such as spamming or trolling, including excessive disruptive posting, and off topic posts. Comments should also be concise. 3. dont incite hatred on the basis of race, religion, gender, nationality or sexuality or another personal characteristic. Dont include swearing, hate-speech, or obscenity; 4. dont break the law - this includes defamation, condoning illegal activity, and breaking copyright; 5. are free from overtly political content; 6. dont advertise commercial products and services. We reserve the right to suspend comments at any time, and to terminate involvement with anyone who posts inappropriate content. You can contact us at enquiries@hient.co.uk.

The UK Fashion & Textile Association is the largest network for UK fashion and textiles, bringing together designers, manufacturers, agents and retailers to promote their businesses and our industry throughout the UK and internationally. UKFT supports companies throughout the UK which cover menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, lingerie beachwear, accessories, footwear and textiles. Our membership includes designers and companies who manufacture their products in the UK, as well as those that have their collections made elsewhere. Many of UKFT’s members are major international brands but a large part of our work is with smaller companies, helping to build the industry of tomorrow.

The Sustainable Fibre Alliance(SFA) is a non-profit international organisation that promotes global sustainability standards for cashmere in order to restore grasslands and transform the complex supply chain of cashmere, from herders to retailers. The social and environmental impacts of modern cashmere production are enormous. Most cashmere is produced in areas that are overgrazed, which causes emissions of CO2 from grassland soils and desertification and reduces animal welfare. Desertification also exacerbates economic hardship for nomadic herders and drives them into poverty and displacement. The Sustainable Fibre Alliance(SFA) was established to bring together supply chain actors to address these concerns collaboratively. The aim of this collaboration is to secure cashmere as an important future source of income for herders, while enabling brands and retailers to be able to continue to benefit from its luxury status. Development of the Sustainable Cashmere Standard is being led by SFA. The process is open to all interested stakeholders, through public consultations. Contact SFA: standards@sustainablefibre.org