BREXIT: noun. A term for the potential or hypothetical departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union ("a Brexit is considered a real possibility for the first time in four decades")

Now that the UK is getting nearer to the date when we leave the economic Union, the fact that we will actually leave is just coming to the fore in people minds.

Despite perhaps feeling like the concept has been around for a lifetime, the idea that the UK may actually leave the European Union wasn’t introduced until 2012. Since then, we’re now facing the reality of ‘what is round the corner’.

While there’s a lot of talk, fearmongering and not much action, the nation is left wondering how exactly this could impact the British Fashion industry.

Currently, the UK’s creative sector is worth £87 billion, as well as also being the fourth highest employer of EU nationals within creative industries. We know that the fashion market is and always has been unpredictable, but new proposals may provide a Brexit-shaped saving grace. Although negotiations have been extremely slow, the promise of the UK government pushing for a two-year transitional deal to help smooth progress should leave many retailers in better stead.

The problem has been that weaker pound, rising production costs for brands, higher cost of imported materials, the threat that UK fashion schools will charge higher fees for students outside of the UK and the suggestion that the UK will lose its position as a creative fashion hub are all scaremongering by journalists and politicians to present an apocalypse that probably will not happen.

With all these kind of thoughts and opinions assaulting us from every direction, I am not so sure Brexit will in fact make any difference at all in the long run. At the moment, most are guessing at how things might work after we leave the EU, but truthfully, no one has any real clue.

What remains likely is we’ll still want to add to our wardrobe Zara (in Spain) and Armani (in Italy), and Europeans will still be treating themselves to British brands like Burberry and Paul Smith. Prices may go up or down – there will be currency fluctuations, prices of raw materials will go up and then they are just as likely to go down. After the Hiatus trading will continue, all will be calm and carry on as before.

The differences may well be so negligible, our current state of anxiety might even become a long forgotten memory.

Regardless of reason to leave, Brexit does now indeed mean Brexit. Although we can’t forecast the future, we can take what we hear with a pinch of salt. In an unpredictable market, retail remains the ultimate ‘comeback kid’ – Brexit can try to knock it down, but looking back in a few years time we may well be saying Brexit—what was all that fuss about.