The festival's main events include three different fashion shows: stageworthy "Fashion-Performance-Dance" ("Mood-Performance-Tants"), representative of bodies and ready-to-wear fashion "Antonius Fashion Show" ("Antoniuse moeetendus"), and the representative of local crafts heritage "Omamood".

The seminar "Greenery" is included on the festival's main program for the second year in a row, featuring talks by circular economy and design experts, both locally and globally, sustainable designers, and organizations dedicated to sustainability.

"Greenery" is represented by the author of "The World Is On Fire But We're Still Buying Shoes", Alec Leach, whose writing mostly involves fashion, sustainability, and greenwashing. He has appeared in magazines such as the New York Times, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, and Dazed, and he has even published opinion pieces in magazines such as Business of Fashion, i-D, and The Guardian.

The Showroom makes its first appearance in the festival's program, combining the best Estonian designers by offering them global representation, as well as international contacts. At the side program, you can see fashion films and exhibitions, and participate in workshops and special tours.

The designers were chosen based on an application they filled out on sustainability, providing answers on how they comply with sustainability requirements in such fields as production, packaging, design, and social responsibility.   

Festival leader Key Külaots emphasizes that the main goal of the event for many years has been the rise of ethical approach and design.

"Fashion events all around Europe have understood their responsibility and their opportunity to shape and forward sustainable fashion's messages to a wider audience. With common practice, the designers who abide by sustainable principles can step onto the stage. In Estonia, the Estonian Fashion Festival is the only festival that has worked out such a format for designers," said Külaots.

Estonian Fashion Festival was founded in 2018 by three organizations: the Pallas University of Applied Sciences' fashion show "Mood-Performance-Dance", Viljandi Culture Academy's "Omamood" and Tartu Center for Creative Industries' "Antonius Fashion Show" under the same format. The annual festival takes place as usual at the start of June in Tartu.

The festival is from June 6.-9. at the Estonian National Museum and Knorring Manor House.

This year's festival is part of the Tartu 2024 main program.

The Festival program can be found HERE.

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