Supporting families at the heart of the fashion retail and textile sector 

An interview with Anna Pangbourne, CEO of the Fashion & Textile Children’s Trust

For more than 170 years, the Fashion & Textile Children’s Trust has quietly supported families across the fashion and textile industry during moments of real need. Rooted in Victorian Britain and championed by Charles Dickens himself, the Trust’s relevance today feels as sharp as ever.

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We sat down with Anna Pangbourne, chief executive of the trust, to talk about what has remained constant since 1853, what has had to change, and why understanding the human impact behind every retail role matters now more than ever.

The Fashion & Textile Children’s Trust has supported families in our industry for over 170 years, with roots stretching back to 1853. When you look at the charity’s history, what do you think has remained constant about its purpose, and what has had to change to reflect the realities facing fashion and retail families today?

What has remained constant is the Trust’s reason for being. From the very beginning, it has existed to support children and families experiencing difficulty because of sickness, disability, bereavement or financial hardship. Those challenges are sadly timeless. While society has changed dramatically since 1853, families still face moments where life takes an unexpected turn and they need help.

What has changed is the context in which those challenges sit. Today, families are dealing with a cost of living crisis, rising rents, the long tail of Covid, and wider global pressures that filter directly into household finances. Technology has reshaped how people work and live, but it has also introduced new anxieties and instability.

As a Trust, we continue to evolve so that our support remains relevant. That means responding to modern pressures while staying grounded in our core purpose. One of our strengths is that we are a small, agile team. During the pandemic, for example, we were able to pivot quickly and support families affected by major retail collapses without layers of bureaucracy slowing us down. That ability to respond at pace is essential in today’s landscape.

Much of your work centres on supporting the children of people working across fashion retail and textile sector often at moments when families least expect to need help. What does meaningful support look like for those parents and children today, and why is it so important that our industry understands the human impact behind the roles we all know so well?

Meaningful support is always practical, personal and dignified. For us, that often means responding to immediate needs, that can feel overwhelming to a family. It might be a bed for a child sleeping on the floor, a washing machine that has broken and cannot be replaced, or support for a family living in temporary accommodation.

It takes three weeks to get a grant to a family — with care, speed and dignity

Behind every job title on the shop floor, in a warehouse or at head office, there is a home life. When things go wrong at home, it affects everything. Parents carry an enormous emotional weight when they feel they cannot provide what their children need, even when they are in work and doing their absolute best.

It is so important that our industry recognises this human reality. Retail and fashion are powered by people, and when those people are under unbearable pressure outside work, it shows. By supporting families properly, we are not just doing the right thing morally, we are enabling people to show up more fully in their roles, at a time when resilience is being tested on every front.

You work closely with employers across the sector, from large multi-site retailers to smaller fashion businesses. What pressures do you see most commonly affecting families right now, and how can employers play a more active role in making sure parents do not carry the weight of those challenges alone?

The biggest pressure we see is simply the daily cost of survival. Rents have risen sharply, energy costs remain high, and many families are still recovering from reduced wages, furlough or job losses linked to the pandemic. These are not isolated cases, they are affecting working families across the UK.

Many employers are actively supporting their employees through financial wellbeing.. We see things like access to earned wages through platforms such as Wagestream, which can be genuinely useful and helps to cover immediate costs and bills, but may not stretch to replace a broken cooker or fund essential items for a growing child.

This is where employers can play a powerful role by partnering with charities like ours. By positioning the Trust as a financial wellbeing resource for families, employers give their teams a safe route to ask for help without fear or embarrassment. That confidentiality is crucial. Families can access support without it becoming known in the workplace, unless they choose to share it.

Reducing stigma is also key. I always remember a senior manager who spoke openly on a call with peers about receiving a grant from us during a difficult time. That one act of honesty opened the door for others to seek help and changed perceptions overnight. When support is visibly available to everyone, including those in senior roles, it becomes part of a healthy culture rather than a last resort.

The Trust’s story is famously linked to Charles Dickens, who supported the charity in its early years and spoke passionately about children and fairness. One of his most quoted reflections was, “In the little world in which children have their existence, there is nothing so finely perceived and so finely felt as injustice.”

How does that sentiment still resonate in your work today, and how do you see the Trust continuing to be a voice for fairness within our industry?

That quote feels as powerful now as it must have done in Dickens’ time. Children feel injustice deeply, particularly when circumstances beyond their control disrupt their sense of safety and stability. Our role is to step in quietly and restore some balance during those moments.

Dickens believed strongly in collective responsibility, that industries should care for their own communities. That ethos sits at the heart of the Trust today. We are sector-specific by design. We exist solely to support the children of people working in fashion and textiles, which allows us to be focused, relevant and effective.

By working with employers and families, we become a bridge between work and home. When urgent needs are met quickly, parents can breathe again. They can be present at work, engage with their teams and customers, and regain a sense of control. That benefits everyone.

Fairness, for us, is not abstract. It is practical, timely and rooted in compassion. It is making sure a child has the basics they need, and a parent knows they are not alone.