European Fashion Council

The organization was founded on May 19, 2007 in House-Museum "Hindliyan", Old Town of Plovdiv, Bulgaria by the following 11 European countries:[3][4]

EFC was officially registered on 6 August 2007 in the District Court of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, which was the very first step towards the conjunction of the different national fashion industries in Europe. Its first significant recognition was in January, 2010, when the organization was officially registered in the Transparency Register of the European Union by the European Commission as an NGO/think-thank for fashion. It was the following year, 2011, when the European Fashion Council officially became an institutionalized organization of the EU for the adoption of its official logo depicting three circular constellations of yellow stars on a blue background.[5] In the month of May, 2012, the European Fashion Council officially became one of the 16 eligible organizations with an approved status to implement the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.[6][7] As of March, 2014, the European Fashion Council has 20 member states, represented by national Non-Governmental Organizations of the fashion industries in Europe, as well as 14,100 members that are companies, organizations and people - fashion designers, photographers, stylists, makeup artists, fashion design teachers and others related to the fashion industry of Europe.[8][9]

The European Fashion Council strives for:

• Integration, tolerance and cooperation between the different European fashion industries;
• Popularization, support and establishment of the fashion art on a pan-European level;
• Support of the development of the fashion design in Europe;
• Development of the cooperation between the business circles of the represented member states;
• Exchange and realization of ideas, events, initiatives and concepts by the member states.[10]

To achieve its goals, the EFC:

1. Examines its legal acts and the current economic situation of the fashion industries in Europe and their trends;
2. Helps for the establishment of a climate, appropriate for cooperation between the companies and organizations in the represented countries;
3. Assists in the lobbying of the members before their official institutions for the stimulation of the fashion design and the activities related to it - production, commerce, services and finances;
4. Helps in facilitating the business visits of designers, models, photographers and all other persons taking part in the fashion events, to any European country, as well as between the represented countries, for the purposes of the development of the European economic cooperation;
5. Presents concepts for structural changes in the economic fields of its member states in accordance with the criteria and the standards of the European Union;
6. Assists the member states in solving their possible arguments and issues by means of negotiations;
7. Exchanges experience in the field of intellectual property rights with other European organizations and offers protection on the copyright of the designers and fashion houses who work in Europe;
8. Supports the education in the various areas of the European fashion industry through the establishment of schools and academies.
9. Represents new fashion labels, products and services;
10. Works for the establishment of the fashion design as a cultural factor;
11. Builds up a network of complex designers centers in each member state.[8][11]

• European Union
• European Commission

• Official website
• European Fashion Council on Facebook