Creativity, Talent Management, Sustainability – How Budapest Became a Regional Fashion Hub

Through its continuous development, the Budapest Central European Fashion Week (BCEFW), created by the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency (HFDA), has become one of the most prestigious fashion events in the Central European region. Since 2018, the event has provided an opportunity for over 80 Hungarian and 65 regional designers to debut, tripling its attendance, reaching 5,000 visitors per season, with a significant online presence. Thanks to the professional presence abroad, the media interest, and the efforts in talent management and sustainability, the Budapest Fashion Week has earned a secure spot on the region’s fashion map. The 15^th anniversary season will celebrate regional fashion with more colourful programmes and international collaborations than ever.

Shaping the Country’s Brand Image

The BCEFW organises two events annually, featuring 25-30 fashion shows per season, and it has provided showcasing opportunities for nearly 150 designers to date. The event's attendance has steadily increased over the years: the first season held in spring 2018 attracted 1,500 people, which has grown to more than 5,000 visitors per season, complemented by tens of thousands of online views on social media platforms. Each season, the HFDA places a great emphasis on integrating fashion and design into the life of Budapest. In addition, presenting the cultural heritage and elevating the country’s brand image are crucial goals of these events. For this reason, the venues of BCEFW so far included iconic buildings in Budapest such as the Castle Garden Bazaar, Bálna Budapest, the National Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Riding Hall, the ELTE University Library and Archives, the Ethnographic Museum, and Millenáris. Prominent figures of contemporary Hungarian fashion design regularly appear on the event’s runways, including Abodi, Kata Szegedi, NUBU, MERO, Nanushka, Zsigmond Dóra Menswear, and Cukovy, as well as international designers at the gateway to world fame such as the Green Carpet Award-winning Gilberto Calzolari and Patrick McDowell, who has received the Stella McCartney TFT Award. Therefore, Fashion Week is creating not only a cultural but an ever-increasing economic value as well: through fashion diplomacy, it supports the creation of a dialogue between regional countries, builds the country’s brand image, and provides new economic opportunities for businesses.

Regional Professional Collaborations

In the first years, through the strategic partnership with the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, a focal point was the international mentoring of Hungarian brands and their appearance at the Milan Fashion Week. However, regional engagement became more and more prominent throughout the seasons. While only a few regional countries’ designers participated in the event before, the 2024 autumn BCEFW unveiled collections by nearly 50 designers from 15 countries, including Hungarian, Czech, Slovakian, Slovenian, Polish, Romanian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bosnian-Herzegovinian, and Moroccan designers. The joint programmes, collective shows, and commercial collaborations support the meeting of creative energies in the region, the global integration and recognition of the Hungarian fashion industry, and Hungarian designers’ entrance to foreign markets, in line with the HFDA’s strategic goal. At the same time, they create a chance for Hungarian brands to participate in fashion events in partner countries.

Young Talents and Ensuring Industry Succession

Season after season, Fashion Week offers debuting opportunities in varied forms – catwalk shows, self-organised shows, BCEFW Showcase exhibitions and presentations – and talent nurturing programmes such as the New Generation and Young Talents Collective Shows. Since the foundation of BCEFW, the HFDA has attached strategic importance to supporting young talents, thus strengthening the Hungarian fashion industry’s future. Seeing the successes in past years, domestic and regional young designers regard this event as a springboard for their careers and the first step towards international runways, global recognition, and prestigious collaborations. Besides, since 2020, the Agency has been paying special attention to elevating the prestige of textile and garments vocational training, involving a hundred people from vocational training institutes and universities each year to provide first-hand insight at its fashion event. Through collaborations with domestic higher education institutions, the last 14 seasons offered a presentation opportunity for fashion designer students in their final year, and their works debuted on the BCEFW runway under the Young Talents Show. In 2018, the leader of Vogue Talents, Sara Maino, was also present at the event. She visits fashion shows globally to discover emerging talents. Throughout the years, the range of possibilities has further expanded: in addition to the New Generation shows, numerous innovative workshops and roundtable discussions ensured that topics such as sustainability, technology, and career building were addressed, engaging the younger generation.

When Budapest Becomes a Fashion Capital

Over the years, Fashion Week has featured an increasingly diverse and rich array of side events to attract a fashion-savvy audience. In the early seasons, the MOL Pop-Up Store and roundtable discussions including technological lectures formed the backbone of the side events. In 2019, the Budapest Fashion & Tech Summit programme was added to the repertoire, involving numerous international speakers on sustainability, digitalisation, and innovation. During the pandemic, traditional catwalk shows were replaced by a digital format, presenting the newest collections in spectacular runway videos. BCEFW’s YouTube videos reached nearly 12,000 viewers in one season. In 2021, the Agency opened a seasonal pop-up store on Fashion Street to support designers’ sales activities. In 2023, for the first time in BCEFW history, the Fashion Hub made its debut at Millenáris, resulting in a full house with interactive workshops, lectures, and presentations by more than 20 designers. The number of side events reached 25 and attracted nearly 1000 visitors to different venues. In 2024, the number of side events further increased, offering fashion shows, shopping opportunities, professional programmes, and interdisciplinary arts events at over 40 locations. Together with the successful Fashion Hub, these events attracted nearly 3,000 people.

International Fashion Map

One of HFDA’s key goals is to enhance the international visibility of the Hungarian fashion industry. Therefore, every season, the event places significant emphasis on inviting foreign press and industry professionals. During previous events, world-famous stylists, buyers, and journalists arrived from a total of 27 countries representing more than 50 international media outlets from Japan to Canada and from Dubai to Brazil to participate in one of the most outstanding fashion events in the region. The events’ role in tourism and shaping the national brand image was enhanced by the hospitality programmes organised during the fashion week, offering international professionals a glimpse into Budapest’s special atmosphere and architectural and cultural heritage. The event’s uniqueness also lies in its significant role in uniting the region’s creative industries. Year by year, the event mobilises every regional actor in the fashion industry: it is popular among designers, models, stylists, influencers, and media representatives alike. As a result, BCEFW has become a regional fashion hub over the past few years, where creative energies can flow freely, and numerous brands and professional participants are joining as returning guests.

Conscious by BCEFW

HFDA considers future generations’ interests through actions prioritising consciousness. The event has paid attention to sustainability from the start. As part of the first BCEFW, the Agency organised a sustainability conference, which focused on educating the audience and emphasised environmentally conscious efforts. In the 2019 season, besides event elements made of recycled materials, a draft study examining the domestic fashion industry’s sustainability was also published. Sustainability has become an integral part of the event, and more and more brands use zero waste, upcycling, and circular solutions that focus on minimising tailoring waste and establishing a conscious material use. Parallelly, in 2024, the Conscious by BCEFW category was launched, with sustainable brands authorised by the Advisory Board. Additionally, the organisers motivate visitors to recycle by placing textile collection containers at the venues.

The 15^th Jubilee Event Date is Approaching

The 15^th Budapest Central European Fashion Week, to be held between the 10^th and the 16^th of February 2025 is surrounded by more international partnerships than ever, allowing designers from six countries—Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Poland, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic—to showcase their works alongside Hungarian designers. At BCEFW AW2526, nearly 50 designers, including young talents and renowned brands, will unveil their newest collections. Besides, fashion icons, programmes promoting a conscious fashion industry mindset, and exciting side events will make this anniversary unforgettable, and this year, the BCEFW theme will also expand to include beauty care.

About the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency

The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency was founded in 2018 to support every actor in the fashion and design industry in an efficient and structured way, following predetermined strategic pillars: professional coordination, enhancing Hungarian brands’ availability and trade opportunities, educational development and manufacturing development. To realise its goals, HFDA organises domestic events each year, such as the region’s major fashion event, the Budapest Central European Fashion Week, or the 360 Design Budapest exhibition, which has received international awards. Besides, they provide Hungarian creators opportunities for participation and debuting at international fashion events such as the Milano Fashion Week and the Maison & Objet design fair. Strategic cooperation with professional organisations, increasing exports, and supporting Hungarian brands’ professional development with mentoring programmes are among their accentuated goals.