Earlier this week a £3.9 million project to build on and support fashion’s heritage in East London was announced by Mayor of London Boris Johnson MP. The Fashioning Poplar project is a partnership between LCF and housing association Poplar HARCA, to deliver a new East End Fashion Hub to the area.
The hub will be created on a site close to the Poplar Riverside Housing Zone, and on the doorstep of Olympicopolis and LCF’s new campus. It will include commercial studios, a fashion business space, a manufacturing unit, a fashion technology accelerator, a public café, events space, and an outdoor area.
Head of LCF Professor Frances Corner said:
Fashioning Poplar heralds our move east to Olympicopolis in 2021. It supports existing East London fashion enterprises, creates further economic growth and social engagement initiatives for the area and is a hugely significant step along the road to an East London Fashion Cluster.
The manufacturing unit will provide employment and training to a local workforce within Poplar and to ex-offenders graduating from the unit’s sister project. It will link local people and enterprises to the future LCF campus at Olympicopolis and complete orders from commercial and emerging designers.
Mayor of London Boris Johnson MP said:
High streets and town centres the length and breadth of London are a hive of economic activity fuelled by creative minds. It’s important that we make sure they continue to meet the needs of a rapidly evolving city and the talented people who are key to its future success.
The hub will also offer fashion, design, tech accelerator and business and enterprise education. LCF’s Fashion Business School will provide business coaching and mentoring on site and will house 15 desks for LCF students to develop their business ideas.
Work will start shortly and the hub is expected to open in autumn 2017.
- Find out more about Poplar HARCA
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