New fashion hub to open in west London

Second Home is a workspace in east London, which has been gathering entrepreneurs and creative businesses under one roof since it first launched in 2014.

Second Home now also has a second location in Lisbon and opened its own bookshop, Libreria, in London earlier this year. But the company is still expanding, and just announced a new space that will open in west London in autumn 2017.

The new location is a "fashion cluster" and Second Home has partnered with the Royal College of Art to launch it. The company explained: "Today in London, there isn't anywhere that can provide young fashion designers with all the facilities (e.g. textile cutting machines, 3D printers etc) and the community of mentors and investors they need. Second Home is going to be building this ecosystem, helping the next generation of British fashion companies and designers - and supporting job creation and innovation in this hugely important industry."

Second Home co-founder Rohan Silva has previous experience of taking creative endeavours and start-ups from ideas to reality - he is the architect of the Tech City initiative, which supported the growth of London's digital and technology cluster.

The new fashion cluster will be located in Ladbroke Grove, west London, and measure 37,000 sqft. It will host designers as well as film-makers, tech companies, and PR agencies, among others. Young designers and underrepresented groups like BME designers will receive support in various ways, ranging from free or subsidised spaces, through to mentoring, investment and education classes.

"This is a fantastic project for London, and we're delighted to be involved." Paul Thompson, Rector of the Royal College of Art, said.

Second Home will accept applications from fashion designers in early 2017.

New fashion hub to open in west London

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