International appearances and accentuated sales promotions characterised the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency’s 2021 programmes

The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency (HFDA) aims to comprehensively support the domestic fashion and design industry, for which the continuous needs assessment of the sector is indispensable. In 2021, the HFDA organised its programmes building on feedback from fashion and design industry actors and launched new initiatives contributing to the competitiveness and exportability of almost 160 industry enterprises. Moreover, as a professional partner, it facilitated nearly 300 fashion and design industry SMEs to receive ITM’s tender support, created a comprehensive National Fashion Industry Strategy, and in 2021, the opportunity for offline events returned as well, thanks to which almost 500 thousand people met Hungarian talents in Hungary and abroad.

The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency surveyed the pandemic’s impact on the fashion and design industry to map the situation caused by the coronavirus epidemic that broke out in Hungary in 2020. Almost 400 businesses responded to the survey. The Agency pays special attention to the feedback from industry players, so it considered the responses when realising its projects in 2021 as well.

A significant milestone of last year was the strategic working material prepared by the HFDA aiming to develop the Hungarian fashion industry, which has become the official National Fashion Industry Strategy accepted by the Government of Hungary. The Agency carried out quantitative and qualitative research to prepare and create a basis for the Strategy and held several professional consultations with outstanding Hungarian and international representatives of the fashion industry. The Ministry for Innovation and Technology (MIT) launched a tender of HUF 15 billion to support fashion and design industry SMEs based on the HFDA’s professional recommendation, for which there was a great interest in 2021. The GINOP-1.2.14-20 tender targeting the convergence regions’ enterprises and the VEKOP-1.2.7-20 tender supporting the Central Hungary region’s businesses have aided nearly 300 fashion and design industry enterprises to gain a competitive advantage.

Last year also brought new opportunities in the field of offline events, in response to which the HFDA redesigned its programs. The Agency realised more than 20 projects in 2021, which provided new opportunities for almost 160 industry players: entrants, market-ready brands, manufacturers, industry professionals, V4 designers and international experts joined HFDA’s programmes. Besides organising domestic events, the Agency boasts a record number of international appearances in 2021. Hungarian designers got to Italy, France, and even the Middle East with the HFDA’s support.

In September, ten product designers’ creations appeared at the Maison&Objet French design fair, and the creations of seven designer-manufacturer pairs participating in the HFDA’s first design LAB incubational programme were exhibited in the French design institute during the Paris Design Week. Owing to the strategic agreement with the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, the fashion designers of the International Mentoring Programme debuted twice at the Milan Fashion Week in 2021; then, besides the Hungary Pavilion realised by Expo 2020 Hungary at the Dubai World Fair, the HFDA called attention to Hungarian talents with a creative week. Among the Hungarian events, the 360 Design Budapest, awarded now five times, proved itself again in 2021: the October exhibition attracted 3200 visitors. The HFDA dedicated the autumn period to fashion and design events again: the Fashion & Design Autumn provided a framework for its events, providing a debuting opportunity for almost 80 fashion and design brands.

The Agency also reached out to emerging, entrant talents, besides those ready for international appearances. The fashion and design mentoring programmes launched in 2021 involving more than 60 Hungarian and foreign professionals provided business development support for 53 fashion and product designers. In addition to theoretical training, participants were able to expand their knowledge with practical experience. Following an internship at domestic manufacturers, design START designers went to Paris, while mentorees of the design SPEED launched in collaboration with the Italian Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) visited Milan. Regarding fashion, participants of the third Hungarian Mentoring Programme together with the Young Talents Programme participants proved their talent on the domestic scene and debuted on the catwalks of the Budapest Central Europen Fashion Week. The second Manufacturers Mentoring Programme, an integral part of the manufacturing development strategic pillar, started with factory visits, and the second design LAB incubation programme was launched with the successful cooperation of seven manufacturer-designer pairs.

“We want to reach every player of the Hungarian fashion and design industry to help them find the possible directions of their development with our programmes and move towards international markets by developing an appropriate strategy. The year 2021 was an important turning point since we could organise offline events again. By appearing at international events and realising domestic events, we opened new horizons for the participants, as a result of which they could successfully increase their export earnings.”  – pointed out Zsófia Bata-Jakab. The CEO of the HFDA added: “In 2021, Hungarian designers performed excellently both domestically and internationally. Again, this year, our accentuated goal is to connect the Hungarian fashion and design industry to the international professional flow, and in the long run, turn Budapest into a regional centre.”

HFDA’s stressed goal is to address sector-specific resource shortages. The strategic agreement with Hiventures Venture Capital Fund Manager belonging to the MFB group was a great help. Our Agency provides the professional background needed to boost the industry as a professional partner. Last year, various applications resulted in a successful investment, and the Fashion & Design Capital Fund has diversified successfully. Hiventures and Startup Campus were the Agency’s partners again in realising the HFDA Startup Programme, with almost 50 applicants hoping to obtain the HUF 20 million investment. In 2021, the HFDA also welcomed new collaborative partners: with the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA), the number of professional partnerships expanded to nearly 10. Last year, the HFDA stood by other organisations as well. The BCEFW helped the Hungarian Interchurch Aid’s work with HUF 2 million from ticket sales revenue and diversified the organisation’s Advent gift shop with unique products of fashion and product designers.

Hungarian brands’ online sales opportunities expanded in 2021 as well. Since the 2020 launch of the Budapest Select Concept Store, it provides opportunities for appearance and sales for almost 80 Hungarian brands; it hosted nearly 210 thousand visitors in 2021 and became available in the digital world of the Metaverse as well. The number of people registered to the HFDA Spot has grown to almost 400, incentivising further industry collaborations. Furthermore, in partnership with Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME), the Budapest Design Material Library has come to life, an exceptional initiative in the Central-European region.

In the educational development pillar framework, the Vocational Training Development Support Programme was launched, which aims to restore the prestige of creative industry skills shortages. In the joint career guidance programme framework with the OTP Fáy András Foundation, online roundtable discussions and workshops were realised, reaching almost 60 thousand views. To target young people, the HFDA and the Startup Campus launched the “New Fashion Industry Talent of the Year” tender in the framework of the InnoGEN talent programme. Events targeting education, the HFDA Academy roundtable discussions are continuing as well: almost 25 thousand people showed interest in the fashion-themed Fashion Flash talks on HFDA’s official YouTube channel, while the design DIALOG has reached a new level with Hungarian and V4 experts, the online views of the videos have exceeded 43 thousand. The  online digital conference has taken place with almost 40 experts from all around the world, which has almost 116,000 views. In the Saint Stephen’s Days framework, participants showed considerable interest in the three-day Fashion & Design Festival realised for the first time this year.

2020 posed severe challenges for the industry, but 2021 brought new opportunities. Last year, strengthening regional and international relations was crucial; HFDA has paid particular attention to channelling the neighbouring countries into the programmes, to collaborative thinking, and knowledge sharing. The Agency supports the industry and the progress of Hungarian fashion and design industry actors in 2022 as well.