Legion Trade Finance launches special funding initiative for the UK fashion industry

Legion is an independent financier of UK businesses with a particular expertise in the textiles and clothing industry. It provides structured trade finance solutions to clients, allowing them to pay suppliers for goods. Legion can pay suppliers direct, provide loans or letters of credit. Facilities typically start at £250k, although all sizes are considered.

The UK fashion industry is now buying for Spring Summer 2015 with buyers touring the world securing the right products. Trade finance enables businesses of all sizes to pay for goods and Legion is playing a critical role in providing much needed capital.

In recent months, Legion has funded goods with an onward sale value of over £5m. It has supported a wide variety of businesses, from haute couture designers to high street suppliers through to discount stock wholesalers.

This experience is now being extended to businesses of all sizes, with facilities available to help pay suppliers. Legion has allocated a £20m fund specific to the UK textiles and clothing sectors, although much more is available subject to demand.

Paul Levy, Business Development Director at Legion Trade Finance, said: “We have funded many businesses in the UK textiles and clothing industry, at all levels in the supply chain and value proposition.

“Critically, our creative and innovative approach means Legion can finance not only finished goods but also material, logistics, duty and even manufacturing. We are finding that our flexibility is very welcome, especially as SMEs need to make important buying decisions yet funding is not easily accessible from traditional sources. We are therefore investing heavily in the sector and offering much needed capital to a vital industry in our economy.”