Post-Brexit tariffs 'will kill businesses' says fashion boss

The Edinburgh-based entrepreneur buys fabric discarded by high end fashion retailers, designs quality pieces inspired by the off-cuts and has her creations handmade in the factory of her Italian business partner, Flavio Forlani.

It is, she says, a sustainable model based on "kindness to the planet and kindness to people" that she plans to expand and undertake on a much bigger scale over the next five years.

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However, Ms Fionda-Douglas says a rapid hike in import taxes is putting increased pressure on her firm and will "kill small businesses" if the government does not step in to help.

The fashion designer, who also lecturers at Heriot-Watt University, said VAT on products imported from Europe has risen from around 20 per cent to 34% as the loss of preferential treatment between the UK and EU create a double duty impact.

She said: "The newer changes at the end of last year have made it almost impossible for small businesses moving forward.

"I am so angry and upset because what we're trying to do is something so different and beautiful; we are taking waste where we find it in Italy and making the clothes there to cut down on the carbon footprint and then shipping them to this country.

"Before we were paying nothing, then we were paying 19%, I had a bill the other day from a shipper who was holding the product at ransom until I paid the VAT and duties, which came to 34%.

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"For small businesses and start ups this isn't a challenge - this is a full stop for many businesses. This is going to kill businesses."

For Beira, it means Ms Fionda-Douglas will be looking to hire fewer staff than she had planned to, "the worst outcome possible because for me, giving back and creating amazing sustainable fashion jobs is a vital part of my business model."

She believes female entrepreneurs will be worst affected by the tariff changes and the strain they put on start up companies.

She added: "As a female entrepreneur I have learned to fight and to keep going. Not every woman has the ability to do that because of their family situations, childcare, caring roles - all of that makes it so much harder for a female.

"A 34% increase is enough to make you go, 'Why am I doing this?'"

Ms Fionda-Douglas believes government is failing to take meaningful action on the environment impact of the fashion industry and suggests sustainable companies should be subject to lower rates as an incentive.

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The Glasgow School of Art graduate began her fashion career in knitwear, designing for companies ranging from M&S to Ralph Lauren.

Ms Fionda-Douglas's love of clothing began as a child when she would design creations for animals – "like hats on snakes" – in little jotters and running her own fashion firm has been a lifelong ambition.

Her parents who are Italian business owners, particularly her mother, always encouraged her to follow her talents and, after working for large corporations then moving in to academia, she came up with the idea for Beira.

Fionda-Douglas travels to Mr Forlani's Italian factory and picks the end of roll fabrics from a huge room stacked floor to ceiling with cloth left over from luxury fashion brands she cannot name but whose brands are ubiquitous.

She has access to the artisans in the factory who will make the designs she describes as "beautiful, timeless pieces" to be worn forever or put away for the use of daughters and granddaughters.

Going direct to source and then selling direct, currently in a pop-up store in Edinburgh's Stockbridge, means customers buy luxury, handmade goods at a third of the cost of more famous labels.

It is the absolute antithesis of fast fashion but, while reduced price, the costs are still out of reach for many women.

For those who have to be more careful with their spending, Fionda-Douglas recommends "shopping your own wardrobe" - looking to see what clothing has been neglected and reinstating it.

She said: "We have hyper-normalised fast fashion, it's become throwaway commodity. The constant churn of outfits drives me crazy."

At any big event, she adds, hire an outfit rather than buying a new one.

Between 80 billion and 150 billion new garments a year are made globally, causing a massive environmental impact.

When charity shops struggle to cope with an excess of donations these often end up being sold to the global south, which affects the ability of designers in developing countries to sell their own work but also creates tons of landfill that is burned or clogs waterways.

Fionda-Douglas said: "We see pictures of bottles floating on the top of the sea but underneath are all the textiles that don't float.

"We're putting polyester garments straight into the sea that are letting off microbeads that are in our fish, in our ecosystems. That £10 top you bought online, wore twice and put in the bin is causing some child on the other side of the world to potentially get cancer."

Fionda-Douglas believes world leaders are failing to take the issue seriously enough and, she says, when she pitches to male investors their "eyes glaze over".

She said: "I've learned how to fight against that. As a woman in business and in academia you are always having to fight."

Fionda-Douglas is determined to tackle the issue of increased costs in a positive manner, partly by focusing on her plans for a new Made In Scotland label for which she is looking to source Scottish mills to work with on knitwear.

She added: "The issue of Brexit is making me look at everything more urgently but there are really exciting things coming for us over the next year.

"We're determined to succeed."