Fashion retailers’ Brexit plans come apart at the seams

Relief is turning to despair as tariffs and red tape snag up supply chains.
One of Jade Holland Cooper’s customers was charged £400 of duty on an £800 order
One of Jade Holland Cooper’s customers was charged £400 of duty on an £800 order
ADRIAN SHERRATT

Jade Holland Cooper breathed a sigh of relief on Christmas Eve. The UK’s 11th-hour free-trade deal with the EU appeared to have cleared the way for her fast-growing retail business to prosper.

Over the past fortnight, though, the fashion designer’s optimism has morphed into despair.

Alarm bells started ringing when a Belgian customer called her company, Holland Cooper, to complain that they had been charged £400 of duty on an £800 order because the correct paperwork was not in place. That was on top of the 12% tariff that Holland Cooper itself now pays on many cross-channel deliveries.

“Boris Johnson put us all under the illusion that there was going to be seamless trade, but it doesn’t really feel like there is a deal here