Paris Women’s Fashion Week (PWFW), held from 29 September to 7 October 2025, was generally positive for British designers and brands, giving them the opportunity to engage with international buyers and press. The UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFT) supported over 110 British brands across multiple tradeshows, showrooms and independent showcases through its Discover British Brands in Paris Map.

UKFT’s Discover British Brands in Paris Map and promotion were supported this season by the Department for Business and Trade.

In spite of the concerns businesses had about the state of the world economy and trade with the United States in particular, which had led some to skip the season, most UK exhibitors reported that they had seen the majority of their key customers. The EU, UK, US, Canada, Japan and the Middle East were reported as being generally positive. The mood was more mixed among Chinese and Korean buyers, particularly in showrooms that focus heavily on those markets. In contrast, UKFT reported visits from multiple Japanese groups, including Ships, attending key shows and showrooms and using the Discover British Brands in Paris map.

Companies reported recent progress in securing overdue payments from one of the larger US department store groups. They also noted that US retailers have generally been supportive of working with UK brands despite the additional IEEPA tariffs, although businesses manufacturing in India have been particularly affected. Several companies have invested in new 3PL operations in the US to help mitigate the impact of these tariffs. A buoyant US economy has also supported constructive and meaningful trade between UK and US businesses. While US travel budgets remain tight, a group of buyers from Saks Fifth Avenue attended the shows..

Middle Eastern buyers, especially the Gulf and Israel, were visibly well represented, especially in the multi-brand showrooms and standalone presentations.

Tradeshows

UK brands exhibited at major tradeshows including Première Classe, Splash!Paris and Tranoi, as well as 21 showrooms, 18 of which were British-run.

Première Classe featured a smaller UK group this season, with only six companies taking part. However, they reported largely successful shows, seeing most, if not all, of their regular buyers, along with a few new ones. Birmingham-based Brady Bags was busy throughout the show. St Piece said they had seen most of their regular clients and Kate Sheridan said that she was happy with the business she had secured at the show. There were no UK designers at the co-located Run showroom but this event was well attended by buyers and press who felt that the event had the potential to grow in importance as a centre for avant-garde designer fashion and a potential rival to Sphère.

Tranoi Paris got off to a good start on the Thursday with four UK brands, mostly regulars, including LK Bennett (represented by AMF agency), Simeon Farrar and Sula. The show has grown in size as the organisers have contracted with several government-supported groups including China, Indonesia, Chile, Brazil and Africa (the latter supported by European brand Stella Cadente) giving the show a new global discovery feel at lower price points which buyers like but European exhibitors found more challenging to be alongside.

Splash also reported a good show with, again, a smaller number of UK brands compared with the past but a very positive feeling around the show and its brand selection. The UK’s lingerie and swim companies have protected their US business by increased use of 3PL and direct shipping (especially from India) into the US but margins remain under a lot of pressure. Some brands are feeling the pinch of the loss of UK retail sales due to the continued lack of a UK VAT refund scheme but were seeing an uptake in business from EU destinations where VAT refunds apply, especially including Greece. This was a topic of frustration for British companies across all shows and there is growing frustration at the government’s failure to relaunch a scheme which would support UK retailers and brands and promote broader UK growth.

Claire Spencer-Churchill of UK-run show Splash! Paris said: “Paris Fashion Week saw an exceptionally strong resortwear showing this season: a truly standout edition with remarkable quality of attending brands and visiting buyers. The energy, calibre of collections and depth of international retail attendance set a new benchmark for the resortwear market.”

Multibrand Showrooms

Above all others, Paris remains the city where most designer brands show and write the majority of their business with international buyers. Multibrand showrooms are an essential part of this as the agencies have close personal relationships with buyers.

There was a very positive vibe around London Fashion Week in Paris and the talent which had been seen on the catwalk. As a result, the British Fashion Council’s LondonSHOWRooms in the Marais was especially well attended from the beginning with newer London Fashion Week designers including Aaron Esh, Dreaming Eli, Jacek Gleba and Oscar Ouyang, alongside established names like Harri, Lueder, SRVC and Labrum London.

UKFT also visited Ardun, Awaykin, Claret, Emma Jones, Nouvelle Box, PaperKiss, PaperMacheTiger, PlusPlus, Polly King, Rainbowwave, The Jewellery Showroom, Tora Tora, The Alphabet and 247 showrooms, where buyers were busily looking at collections and discussing business. Awaykin and Tora Tora were busy from the start whereas some of the other showrooms reported that they had more appointments in the diary from the weekend onwards.

Emma Jones of Emma Jones Consultancy Showroom said: “The season has felt much more positive and stores have realigned themselves with the changes that they needed to make.”

UKFT was especially pleased to visit celebrity Milliner Stephen Jones OBE at Dover Street Market’s private showroom and to have the chance to meet the Victoria Beckham team at their showroom near the Parc Monceau, which was without doubt the busiest event UKFT saw during fashion week.

Independent Showcases and Catwalks

This season saw the largest ever percentage of UK brands and designers showing independently in Paris and a record number of eight catwalk shows. Independent shows ranged from the incredibly impressive and well received Victoria Beckham as well as Stella McCartney and Jenny Packham, all in luxury settings, to smaller independent brands such as Sabina Savage, IA London and Paul Smith Foundation designer Pauline Dujancourt in smaller venues around Paris. The Discover British Brands in Paris map made it easier for smaller brands in particular to “do their own thing” in Paris.

Lindsay Girvan of Future Vintage said: “‘Paris is an essential connection point for designers, makers and buyers. This year was a huge success for us with orders taken, relationships developed and new contacts made. Lots of chat, lots of trying on, lots of selling. A wonderfully positive Paris Fashion Week. We will be back!”

Commercial Impact

There are no official figures available for the number of buyers visiting or the level of business placed at Paris Fashion Week but it was clear that the week had attracted significant numbers of buyers and press from around the world joining the already high levels of high disposable income tourists attracted to Paris as a worldclass shopping destination supported by an EU-wide VAT refund scheme, and tourist destination.

Caroline Attwood, Managing Director of Margaret Howell Ltd, said: “Paris has always been an important point of connection for us. This season we saw a good number of buyers, and there’s a sense of renewed energy in the city. It’s a reminder of how valuable these international gatherings are for British design, with the renewed VAT refund scheme offering further encouragement for British brands to show internationally.” 

Paris hotel room rates were amongst the highest on record and most of the restaurants and bars in the Marais were filled to capacity. Most of the shows and showrooms were well attended and UK independent exhibitors reported that business had been better than they had expected.

Positive perceptions of the UK and the level of talent at London Fashion Week meant that buyers, especially from the EU, were more enthusiastic than in the past about working with UK designers and brands. Most of the UK’s larger brands and even some of the smaller ones have adjusted to Brexit by moving production to the EU or setting up EU VAT facilities to make it easier and cheaper for buyers to work with them on a landed basis and this is paying dividends. While UK companies are still adapting to the US additional tariffs and the end of De Minimis, most of them have engaged with retailers on this and have agreed that their US retailers will bear the cost of any unexpected fluctuations down the line.

Paul Alger MBE, representing UKFT, said: “This edition of Paris Fashion Week has been broadly more successful than we had dared to hope. The UK designers really stand out from the competition in terms of quality and design, and the UK is currently seen in a very positive creative light – which ultimately leads to good business!”

Follow UKFT on Instagram @ukftorg or click on the link below to find out more about our international tradeshow activity:

DISCOVER BRITISH BRANDS