The Budapest Central European Fashion Week jumpstarted the international sales of Hungarian brands

The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency, getting ahead of the four international fashion weeks – New York, London, Milan, Paris – presented a limited selection of over 30 Hungarian and regional designers’ newest collections at the Budapest Central European Fashion Week. Behind bringing the date forward was a strategic decision, thanks to which Hungarian brands gained a competitive edge in their wholesale sales opportunities. The fashion shows were held with a reduced audience due to the pandemic. 2500 guests, among them wholesalers, domestic and international journalists, and influencers got to know the 2022/23 autumn-winter collections in the capital’s iconic venues throughout the three days. From now on, thanks to online broadcasting, some shows had a live audience of over 150 thousand viewers on social media channels.

The Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency organised the Budapest Central European Fashion Week again between the 31st of January and the 6th of February for the ninth time, awaiting audiences interested in fashion for one whole week. The event transformed Budapest into a true fashion capital, with a succession of exciting themed events. The fashion shows started on Friday in the Royal Riding Hall building. Then wholesalers, journalists, and fashion professionals got to know the contemporary brands’ 2022/23 autumn-winter pieces in the Museum of Fine Arts on Saturday and Sunday.

“We received a lot of feedback saying that we managed to elevate this year’s BCEFW to a higher level both regarding event organisation and sales incentivising. In addition, we could show our international guests the unmatched beauty of Budapest, guiding them to the emblematic locations of our capital. I believe such events provide an excellent opportunity to consciously exploit the existing connections between fashion and tourism and develop Hungary’s tourist appeal” – highlighted Zsófia Bata-Jakab, the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency’s CEO. 

“This year’s BCEFW Pre-Fall Collection contributed to many previous goals; thus, with this fashion week, many of our old aspirations came true. We organised the event almost one month earlier, which was an enormous challenge for our designers to finish their new collections on time. Still, we are extremely proud that they successfully completed this challenge. The shows held before the international fashion weeks reached their goal: international resellers and distributors from Italy and Russia could place their orders on Hungarian collections while they still had their whole budget. This is a great competitive edge for the brands, which required a whole new way of thinking from them” – added Anita Forintos-Szűcs, Deputy CEO of the Hungarian Fashion & Design Agency.

The Agency provided numerous possibilities for designers this year; thus, those designing different accessories and jewellery could also present their creations besides clothes brands. In addition, as an accentuated side event, five Hungarian brands’ exhibitions were shown in Deák Palota on the Fashion Street, and seven in the Museum of Fine Arts, also known as the venue of the fashion shows.  

2500 visitors watched the 21 (19 Hungarian and 2 Polish) fashion shows live – among which famous representatives of the international press such as staff from the Italian, Ukrainian, and Polish Vogue, and the Polish and Serbian ELLE, along with famous influencers such as Doina Ciobanu or Richard Biedul. In addition, numerous resellers watched the shows on-site coming from countries such as Russia or Italy, with whom the designers could meet and negotiate about the orders after the shows in person.

Meanwhile, side events filled the capital with fashion-related programmes: roundtable discussions, showroom visits, workshops, and other exciting events awaited those interested. Not only were experts interested in the shows, but fashion enthusiasts also visited the catwalk shows, besides the side events. The Agency offered the amount received from ticket sales, HUF 1 million, to the Hungarian Interchurch Aid. Besides, the HFDA aspired to include the future’s fashion industry talents, that is, students participating in vocational training and university training in the event. All in all, almost 100 students and teachers arrived from different institutions, who gained first-hand professional experience. The interest in the BCEFW manifested in the online space as well, where those interested in the newest trends could follow the event on the BCEFW’s official Facebook page and TikTok channel. The videos of the catwalk shows and the exciting moments of the event were a huge success, most of the runway shows had more than 100,000 views, while some were followed by 150,000 people live on TikTok.

In addition to the crowds, the big names also appeared on the catwalks: the shows featured Panni Epres, who has built a serious modelling career, and Hungarian celebrities such as Evelyn Verrasztó, swimmer, and Kati Wolf, singer. In addition, the organisers paid special attention to diversity and emphasised a positive body image. This year’s shows also included another unique feature, with several brands making their anniversary appearances at BCEFW. Some brands celebrated their tenth anniversary at the event, while others celebrated their twenty-fifth.

The Agency exploited new technical solutions in connection with BCEFW for the second time: it offered a virtual shopping experience in the digital world of the Metaverse for those interested. The contemporary Hungarian pieces can be viewed and bought directly with one click at the Budapest Select Concept Store’s page.