Square and Clearpay Announce Support to Help Emerging British Designers Launch ECommerce Channels

Bespoke programme, in partnership with the British Fashion Council, will provide designers with technical support, mentorship and ecommerce platform to create an online retail presence for their brands

London, 26th October 2022: Square and Clearpay has launched a programme for the British Fashion Council’s (BFC) initiative designers to help them establish their online storefronts. The programme empowers the best of Britain’s emerging designer talent to fast forward their business growth and generate more revenue by making their collections shoppable to millions of ecommerce customers worldwide. This launch comes at the end of another successful London Fashion Week, of which Clearpay is the principal partner.

As part of the BFC’s business development programme, designers supported by the BFC Foundation for the year 2022/2023 can participate in Square and Clearpay’s eCommerce mentoring package and receive access to Square Online free of charge, for one year. This exclusive offer is available to the first 10 designers that register their interest. Further benefits include: 

• eCommerce processing fees waived for up to £10,000 in sales processed, and thereafter processing is charged at Square’s standard rates; 
• Free one-year access to the Square Online Performance Plan – a sophisticated eCommerce platform designed to drive online growth for small businesses with fulfillment options, abandoned basket tracking, product reviews and advanced reporting worth more than £200;
• Upfront consultation, mentoring and training to guide designers through the creation of their retail website;

Paula Corcoran, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Square Online, said: “We’re delighted to  offer such a robust eCommerce opportunity to a group of truly innovative designers. We know how important it is for any business to build their own unique online presence and be able to accept payments in multiple ways. We can’t wait to see what comes of merging Square and Clearpay’s tools and expertise with the BFC Foundation’s designers, a network known for their innovation and talent.”

Rich Bayer, UK Country Manager at Clearpay, said: “By offering the British Fashion Council’s emerging designers complimentary access to the Square eCommerce platform, we are delivering one of the core objectives of our London Fashion Week principal partnership, which is to support British retail and new designer talent. Through the Clearpay integration within the Square platform, designers will automatically be able to offer Clearpay and tap into our audience of young and engaged shoppers to build business success.”

Caroline Rush, CEO of the BFC said: “We greatly appreciate the commitment that Clearpay has demonstrated to designers throughout its principal partnership of London Fashion Week, through financially supporting all of the programmes that we run in aid of our emerging designers. By offering our current cohort of designers free access to ecommerce integration, we are supporting them to take another key step in becoming an established brand, driving their business forward.” 

Square helps sellers run and grow their business with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions. Clearpay allows customers to pay for items in four installments over six weeks and is completely free for customers who pay on time. Together, Square and Clearpay are building innovations to evolve businesses into the future, following the integration of Clearpay across Square’s ecosystem earlier this year. 

Square Online allows any business to digitise and run online with a free eCommerce website. Key product features include:

• Square Online lets you launch a beautiful mobile-ready site in just minutes. The tools are purposefully designed to optimise the experience for mobile users as this is where customers shop the most. 
• Square Online comes with Clearpay built in, allowing customers to pay in four interest-free instalments over six weeks, while businesses get paid in full right away. 
• Seamless integration between Square Online and any Square point of sale means business owners can efficiently manage online and in-store sales from a single unified system. For Square customers using any of our POS solutions already, extending a retail business to online sales is quick and easy since Square Online seamlessly integrates with existing in-store inventory.

To find out more about Square visit https://squareup.com/gb/en, to find out more about Clearpay, visit https://www.clearpay.co.uk/en-GB and to find out more about the British Fashion Council visit https://www.britishfashioncouncil.co.uk/ 

Squareup Europe Ltd is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 (registered reference no. 900846) for the issuing of electronic money and provision of payment services.

 

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About Square
Square helps sellers more easily run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions. Square offers purpose-built software to run complex restaurant, retail and professional services operations, versatile e-commerce tools, embedded financial services, buy now, pay later functionality through Afterpay/Clearpay, staff management and payroll capabilities, and much more – all of which work together to save sellers time and effort. Millions of sellers across the globe trust Square to power their business and help them thrive in the economy. Square is part of Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ), a global technology company with a focus on financial services. For more information, visit https://squareup.com/gb/en 

 

About Clearpay (Afterpay Limited)
Afterpay, known as Clearpay in the UK and Europe, is transforming the way we pay by allowing anyone to buy products immediately and pay over time – enabling simple, transparent, and responsible spending. We are on a mission to power an economy in which everyone wins.
Afterpay is offered by thousands of the world’s favourite retailers and used by millions of active global customers. Afterpay is currently available in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain, where it is known as Clearpay. Afterpay is a wholly owned subsidiary of Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ).

 

About British Fashion Council

The British Fashion Council (BFC) is a not-for-profit organisation set up in 1983 with the role to strengthen British fashion in the global economy as a leader in responsible, creative businesses. It does this through championing diversity and building and inviting the industry to actively participate in a network to accelerate a successful circular fashion economy. The BFC promotes British fashion internationally and does so through fashion weeks, exhibitions and showcasing events. The BFC helps British designer businesses develop their profile and business globally and supports fashion talent beginning at college level, extending to talent identification, business support and showcasing schemes. The BFC Foundation (Registered Charity Number: 11852152) was created in 2019 for charitable purposes and grant giving; attracting, developing and retaining talent through education and business mentoring. The BFC Foundation offers support to designers through four talent identification and business support schemes: BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund, BFC/GQ Designer Fashion Fund, NEWGEN and the BFC Fashion Trust. With the support of the BFC Colleges Council, the BFC Foundation offers BA and MA scholarships to students, as well as links with industry through design competitions and Graduate Preview Day. In 2020, the BFC launched the Institute of Positive Fashion (IPF), with the aim to help the British fashion industry lead in the goal to be more resilient and circular through global collaboration and local action.

The BFC showcasing initiatives and events include London Fashion Week Presented by Clearpay taking place every February, June and September; LONDON show ROOMs and the annual celebration of creativity and innovation in the fashion industry: The Fashion Awards.

For more information visit: britishfashioncouncil.co.uk & londonfashionweek.co.uk