Manny Silverman has spent his entire career, both in the womenswear and menswear sectors of the clothing industry and has had long and considerable experience in most aspects of the business. He joined Moss Bros as an apprentice tailor in 1946 and having spent 10 years as a tailor he eventually went on to hold a number of senior positions in the group, becoming Chief Executive from 1980 to 1987. He subsequently became a shareholder and Executive Chairman of Norman Hartnell Ltd, the Royal Couturiers to H M The Queen and H M The Queen Mother.

He is a member of the Academy of Experts and has acted as an expert witness since 1995, producing reports and given evidence in court on a whole range of matters including a number of High Court actions on matters related to the retail/fashion/accessory sectors including trading disputes, design infringement, branding, licensing, marketing, purchasing, manufacturing, quality issues, merchandising, UK and Community unregistered design/copyright infringement, counterfeiting and retail property related matters He is also on the NPIA expertise database.

Actions in which he has been instructed as an expert include the following:

Simmons & Simmons acting for Abercrombie & Fitch successfully resisting a claim in relation to proceedings in the UK High Court and the community trademark office for trade mark revocation.

Pannone LLP acting for Cotton Traders Ltd in successfully resisting a claim by Nike over the RFU for trade mark infringement and successfully counterclaiming revoking the RFU’s trade mark registrations in the traditional Red Rose of England,

Wallace LLP successfully acting for the defendants, The Whiteley Hat Company in an action brought by Philip Treacy Ltd for copyright infringement,

McCormicks Solicitors successfully acting for the Greenwoods Menswear Ltd Defendant/Part 20 Claimant in an action brought by Albion PLC Claimant/Part 20 in a claim made by the Claimant that the Defendant had failed to pay for goods delivered and a counterclaim by the defendant that the goods were defective.

His retail/fashion consultancy practise was formed in 1992, and offers a range of ‘hands on’ management/advisory services. The practise has a diverse client list within a number of sectors and from both large and small organisations from both the public and private sector including, Scottish Enterprise, the Welsh Development Agency, EXPROM-Polish Chamber of Commerce, UN Miller Freeman plc, Panther Group plc, Greenwoods Ltd, the V&A, the National Maritime Museum, Henry Poole & Co, Hardy Amies plc and others, including a number of members of the British Shops and Stores Association. He is also a former member of the British Fashion Council.

Other current activities include membership and Co-Chair of the Retail/Consumer Goods Sector Groups of each the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesian British Business Councils respectively and an advisor to UK Trade & Investment on the retail sector for the ASEAN region.

He has been a keynote speaker at both the Philippine Retailers Association ASEAN National Retailers and the ASEAN Region/Singapore Retailers Association Conferences, and in 2008 was invited by H E the Chinese Ambassador to the UK to give a presentation at the Embassy to a delegation of Chinese designers, manufacturers and retailers visiting the UK, and also gave the opening presentation at the CLT Conference on “Intellectual Property in the Fashion Industry” held September 2009.

Outside the industry, he is a Freeman of the City of London and a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Glovers.