News

Prof. David Hinks-Dean of NCSU Wilson College of Textiles appointed as ITC Academic Advisor

ITC is pleased to renew the appointment of Prof. David Hinks, Dean, Wilson College of Textiles, Cone Mills Distinguished Professor of Textile Chemistry of North Carolina State University (U.S.A.) as departmental academic advisor for a three year term, which started in 2019. Prof. Hinks is continuing his role as academic advisor. He was first appointed in 2017 for three years, and his term has been extended for another three years. Prof. Hinks leads North Carolina State University with more than 130 faculty and staff members. He has published more than 150 research papers in the area of colour science, and forensic and environmental textile chemistry.

Prof. Narren Barfeld-Provost of RCA appointed as ITC Academic Advisor

ITC is pleased to announce new appointment of Prof. Naren Barfield, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost of the Royal College of Art (U.K.) as departmental academic advisor for a three year term, which started in 2019. Prof. Barfield has held senior leadership positions in a number of higher education institutions in the U.K. and contributed to the strategic development, support, leadership and assessment of learning and teaching, research, knowledge exchange, innovation, and transnational and postgraduate education, both nationally and internationally.  Since 2011, he has been Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost (Pro-Rector to October 2017) at the Royal College of Art, the world’s leading university of art and design, and has led significant growth in postgraduate programmes, student enrolments, research intensity and quality, industry partnerships, executive education, internationalisation, and revenue growth and diversification. He is highly experienced in strategic leadership, policy development, operational management, and goal focused delivery, and recognised internationally as an expert and advocate for the impact and value of arts and humanities research, design-led innovation, and the societal and economic benefits that arise from the integration of STEM with the arts to create STEAM.

Dr Harry Lee further appointed as adjunct professor

Dr Harry Lee, SBS, JP, Chairman of TAL Apparel, has made many valuable contributions to the development of the fashion and apparel industry during his 30 years in the textile and garment industry. He joined the Textile Alliance Limited (TAL) in Hong Kong in 1973 and was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 1983, which currently employs over twenty thousand people. Dr Lee has also significantly contributed to the advancement of PolyU and ITC in various capacities over the years. As such, he was granted an adjunct professorshipin 2019.  In his new capacity as Adjunct Professor, ITC and its students look forward to benefiting from his insights and vast industry experience in the area of textiles and apparel. 

ITC Summer Internship Programme 2019/20

The ITC Summer Internship Programme was initiated in 2017 with the aim of enriching the learning experience of students through local or overseas on-the-job training. The professional work experience not only improves the industry skills of students, but cultivates professional soft skills, including interpersonal and communication skills, and time management. A total of 66 manufacturers, retailers, buying offices, and design houses have offered 250 intern positions in the past two years. ITC students have greatly benefited from the invaluable opportunity to gain experience in their field. Andrea Leung, who is majoring in Fashion Retailing in the BA programme, interned with Wharf China in summer 2019 and had this to say about her internship experience: “I’ve learnt a lot of skills and techniques for official meetings and negotiations. I’ve finally realised the importance of communication skills and how to use them to encourage receptiveness to my suggestions.” This year, despite the social unrest and global economic challenges, over 20 industrialists are participating in the internship programme. Student interns will start their internship journey in June 2020 for seven weeks or more. Each student is expected to complete a mini-project that would give them the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to the workplace. At the end of their internship, the students will present a learning portfolio to their workplace supervisors and subject lecturers. To learn more about the internship programme from our past student interns, please watch this video on our YouTube channel, or follow us on our Facebook Fan page and Instagram.

Call for application - Future Retail Challenge of The World Retail Congress 2020 (Application deadline: 6 January 2020)

Background An event sponsored by and in collaboration with the Li & Fung Group PolyU Teams were the Champions of 2011, 2012, 2015, 2018, and 2019 Challenges Open to all ITC BA students (Year 3 & 4 are preferred). Four winners will be selected to form a Hong Kong team to compete in the Future Retail Challenge at World Retail Congress in Rome, Italy in April 2020. We are now preparing for the 2020 Future Retail Challenge (28-30 April, 2020) in Rome, Italy and invite you to participate. Please click here for the audition brief. Auditions Prepare a 4-min presentation in English with less than 10 slides for the #1 round audition. #1 round audition 13 Jan 2020 (Monday) 9:30am-12:30pm @QT717 #2 round audition (for successful candidates only) 20 Jan 2020 (Monday) 9:30am-12:30pm @QT717 Application For application, please fill in the registration form and submit the form on/before 6 January 2020. Further information Should you have any queries, please contact Dr Eunsoo Baek by email eunsoo.baek@polyu.edu.hk For more information on World Retail Congress 2020, please click here.

Dr Jin Lam invited to judge fashion design competition

Dr Jin Lam, Assistant Professor of ITC, was recently invited to judge the Inter-School Fashion Design Competition, which was organised by the China-Hong Kong New Generation Association, and co-organised by good morning CLASS and the Business-School Partnership Programme of the Education Bureau. The aim of the competition is to offer a platform for secondary school students to showcase their designing talent. The judging session was successfully held on 28 March 2019. Three designs were subsequently shortlisted and constructed into actual outfits for the fashion show at the award ceremony which was held on 18 July 2019.

Prof. Calvin Wong chairs AIFT 2019

Prof. Calvin Wong, Cheng Yik Hung Professor in Fashion at ITC, chaired the 2nd Artificial Intelligence on Fashion and Textile International Conference (AIFT 2019) at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. AIFT 2019 was jointly organised by ITC, and The 19th International Exhibition on Textile Industry (ShanghaiTex2019) from 25 to 27 November 2019. The co-organisers included the College of Information Sciences and Technology and College of Fashion and Design of Donghua University, and the Engineering Research Centre of Digitalized Textiles and Fashion Technology under the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. The three-day conference explored the integration of fashion and textile supply chains and artificial intelligence (AI) which attracted over 250 researchers, engineers, practitioners and IT professionals from the AI and fashion and textile fields. The plenary speakers included Prof. Chua Tat-Seng, KITHCT Chair Professor in the School of Computing of the National University of Singapore; Anne Toomey, Head of Textile Programme at the Royal College of Art in London; and Prof. Calvin Wong. They shared their insights and research findings on the application of AI in the fashion business. AIFT 2019 highlighted AI as an emerging technology and discussed the challenges of using AI in the textile and fashion industries, which would lead the industry to a new phase in manufacturing called “Industry 4.0” and the “new retail era”. The scope of the conference papers included: AI fundamentals, identifying and classifying textile material defects, fabric modeling, identifying fashion key points, retrieving fashion images, 3D modeling of the human body for virtual fitting, and wearable devices. At the opening ceremony, Prof. Wong also announced the establishment of the Artificial Intelligence on Fashion and Textile Alliance with members from various institutions, research institutes and related industries. The aim of the alliance is to provide a platform that would promote and facilitate AI research and its applications in the fashion and textile industries.

ITC alumnus Necro Poon shines at 2019 DFA Hong Kong Young Design Talent Award

ITC alumnus, Necro Poon (BA, 2011) was recognized at the 2019 DFA Hong Kong Young Design Talent Award (DFA HKYDTA). The Award aims to grant local young (aged 35 or below) design practitioners or graduates contributing to Hong Kong’s creative industry. This year, 13 of 16 awardees will receive a financial sponsorship amount up to HK$5,000,000 in total for 6 – 12 months of overseas work attachment or study to further stimulate design thinking. Necro’s high sense of fashion and strong personal style, together with his talent and motivation brought him this Talent Award. He joined Aquascutum (Hong Kong), followed by Adlib, and established his own brand NECRO STUDIO in 2017. Necro was Contemporary Day-wear Group Winner of the 2015 Hong Kong Young Fashion Designers' Contest, HKTDC, and won the Collection of the Year Menswear Award 2017, Hong Kong Fashion Council. His collections are often unisex, and always strong and contemporary with political overtones in their names, from SELF-SALVATION OATH, POST-PROTEST ERA - HIGHWALL and SOUND OF RIOT to YOUTH EARTHQUAKE, his first denim collection, and Dragon and Phoenix, a 2019 collection. “I would like to learn about the international market. I feel that working as a design intern will teach me how international brands function and especially design inspiration, sketching, development, product production, pricing, marketing, image management, and human resources.” Necro said.

ITC graduates at Global Sources Fashion Event

ITC graduates were given the opportunity to showcase their creative designs at the Global Sources Fashion event which was held from 27 to 30 October 2019 at AsiaWorld-Expo. Seven graduates took part in the Fashion Parades to flaunt their talent while 6 other graduates participated in a special onsite attraction area called "Young Designers Corner" in which local designers and emerging talents displayed their designs.  It was a valuable opportunity for all of the graduates to showcase their work on an international platform. DEAR by Chan Lai Ting, Ann The Time Traveler by KWOK Kin Ming, Keith (left) M.F.X by SO Ting Hin, Dicky Global Sources Fashion, Hong Kong’s biggest fashion sourcing event, is a gathering of high-quality suppliers from the Asia-Pacific region who exhibit their latest fashion bags, sportswear, apparel, footwear, accessories and fabrics. The exhibition pavilions for fashion handbags, sports fashion and active lifestyle products as well as socks and leggings are the largest in Hong Kong.

Yishu Yan runner-up at International Youth Designer Competition

ITC is pleased to announce that PhD student Yishu Yan received 2nd runner-up at The 6th International Youth Designer Competition (国际青年设计师邀请赛), which was held at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT) on 20 October 2019. The competition theme, ‘Culture Integration’, attracted over 150 submissions from 15 countries, of which 34 finalists were shortlisted to showcase their works and compete for three awards. Yishu’s womenwear collection is called "Aqualoop", which remixes elements of water and colourful knitted yarns in two key directions. One focuses on providing a sense of fluidity, irregularity, and transparency, while the other highlights the attractive colours of underwater life. The colour palette consists of bright tones with shiny edges, such as fiery red, scuba blue, solar golden yellow and bright white. The unique three-dimensional knitted fabrics which are both high in flexibility and inimitable in texture are specially designed and knitted. The shape-shifting silhouettes of the collection rely on the characteristics of the developed fabric which forfeits the need for any further cutting. This collection is based on Yishu's Ph.D. research work on digital knitting. The competition was the kick-off event for the celebratory activities of the 60th Anniversary of the BIFT. The panel of judges consisted of renowned academics and designers, including: Anthony Bednall, Associate Head of Manchester Fashion Institute of the Manchester Metropolitan University Liu Wei, renowned fashion designer Liu Yuanfeng, Vice President of China Fashion Association Anne Smith, former Dean of Academic Programmes for Fashion; Jewellery and Textiles; Product, Ceramic and Industrial Design and Spatial Practices of Central Saint Martins and Distinguished Professor of BIFT Wang Yutao, renowned fashion designer Yang Jie, Vice President of School of Fashion and Engineering at BIFT