News

Advisory Board and Academic Committee newly formed for The Fashion Gallery

It is our great pleasure and honour to announce the first Advisory Board and the first Academic Committee of The Fashion Gallery at PolyU. Established in 2009, The Fashion Gallery is the only gallery in the region that specifically exhibits fashion and textiles. Regular exhibitions at The Fashion Gallery are free to the public, which provides an open forum and dialogue with the design community at large. The Fashion Gallery best exemplifies a global endeavor; not only is a platform provided for the exchange of original design concepts between the East and West, but interdisciplinary networking is also facilitated. We are extremely grateful to the distinguished members of the Advisory Board and Academic Committee for their service and hope that as a collective entity, we will break new grounds in fashion and textiles.  For the list of Advisory Board, please click here. For the list of Academic Committee, please click here.

Prof. Xiaoming Tao recipient of 2020 Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award

Prof. Xiaoming Tao, Chair Professor of ITC, is the recipient of the 2020 Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award granted by the Chinese Academy of Engineering. She was nominated for the award by the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering. This is a prestigious award that acknowledges Chinese engineering science and technology experts who have made important contributions and outstanding achievements in the related fields. It is the highest award in the engineering field by social organizations in China. Since 1996, the biennial Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award has been awarded 13 times. A total of 305 recipients who hail from different engineering fields have been given the honor, including for example, machinery, electronics, chemicals, textiles, etc. As a textile engineering expert, Prof. Tao has made original contributions in the areas of new spinning and smart textile technology. Prof. Tao has led her team to propose for the first time a new ring-spun single yarn structure and a theory around low torque, low twist and high strength yarns. They have invented a one-step low-torque single yarn spinning method by modifying a conventional spinning frame to produce single yarns with the unique new structure, thus successfully remedying a major technical problem of ring-spun yarn with low twist and low strength that has long plagued the industry. Under the premise of ensuring quality and production efficiency, the yarn twist is greatly reduced and the productivity of the spinning frame is increased. Other advantages of this technology include reducing energy use during spinning, and avoiding the fiber damage that is common in the original process and the use and discharge of steam, water and chemicals. It is the first time that this technology has been successfully applied in the industry worldwide to realize mass production, and has achieved significant economic and social benefits. Fabric electronic sensing technologies have been invented including fabric strain gauges, pressure sensors and bio-potential electrodes that are sensitive and reliable, capable of large deformation sensing, have anti-fatigue ability, resistant to washing, and have a highly dynamic response. They overcome the shortcomings of the existing technologies such as small measurement range, poor repeatability and stability, and non-washability. Their industrialized production has been achieved, thus providing the real practical textile electronic sensing technologies for numerous wearable systems. A number of theoretical models and experimental methods have been proposed for fiber-based optoelectronic devices. Prof. Tao is recognized as one of the world leaders in the field of smart textile research. Prof. Tao is Chair Professor of Textile Technology and Director of the Research Center for Smart Wearable Technology at ITC. She is the former World President of The Textile Institute, an international professional society.

ITC Summer Internship 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. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of our internship partners have been forced to suspend or modify their participation in the internship programme. This year, six companies in retailing, manufacturing and buying offered intern positions to 13 ITC students. The students have greatly benefited from the invaluable opportunity to gain experience in their field. Coco Lam, who is majoring in Design in the BA programme, interned with Concept 4 during the past summer and had this to say about her internship experience: “I've learnt a lot of skills and techniques for official meetings and negotiations. I finally realised the importance of communication skills and how to use them to encourage receptiveness to my suggestions.” Coco's presentation at Concept 4 Coco's Project 1: prints creation and sample launch Coco's Project 2: Product shoot As an intern with Newtimes Development Ltd. which provides supply chain management, sourcing and the development of products for two American brands, Nordstrom and The Normal Brand, So Nga-wun Tara assisted with product development tasks and quality control during sample production. As a student who is majoring in Retail and Marketing in the BA programme, she found the job to be very challenging, "I think that product development is a complex and intensive process which requires tremendous effort from different departments. I became more mindful of details and more careful after I was given the task of inspecting the garment samples.”   Tara's Project 1: Product development with Nordstrom for SS 2021 Tara’s first 3D runway show made possible by using CLO fashion design software at Newtimes This is the first time that Newtimes Development Ltd. is participating in the internship programme. They accepted three student interns for three different departments in their company. Mr Paul Walsh, CEO, stated, "It was our absolute pleasure to provide student internship opportunities to ITC this year - they all demonstrated incredible enthusiasm, effort and talent during their tenure with us and represent the bright future ahead for our apparel industry!" OnTheList also took part in the internship programme for the first time. The company was established in 2016, and offers luxury brands to members at a discount price. Initially OnTheList offered internship positions in Hong Kong, Taipei, Shanghai and Singapore. Due to COVID-19, four internships were provided to ITC students to support the Hong Kong outlet. Ho Ka-yee Kelly, who is majoring in Design in the BA programme, was one of the student interns at OnTheList. She was responsible for supporting the floor team, especially during the Flash Sales events. "As a design student, I am also interested in fashion retail. At OnTheList, my knowledge has been enriched by the hands-on work experience, and I had the opportunity to witness the store operations, merchandising systems, business metrics, consumer behavior and buying experience." Kelly said. "Retailing plays an important role in the entire business operation. If customers are given bad service, it doesn’t matter how great the design is, and how perfect the marketing strategy is, the business won’t last very long," she added.  

Visit of Dr the Hon. Victor Lo, Honorary Chairman of PolyU Court

ITC welcomed a visit from Dr the Hon. Victor LO Chung-wing, GBM, GBS, JP, Honorary Chairman of PolyU Court on 28 Sept 2020. Dr Lo is the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Hong Kong–listed Gold Peak Industries (Holdings) Limited. In addition, he is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hotel ICON Limited, which is the teaching and research hotel under PolyU. Mr Lo has a long standing passion for the development of ITC’s fashion design discipline. He visited ITC to have an update of our recent development, and explore collaboration in wearable technology.

Giving love and positive energy to children with autism

The PU30TM research team has produced a special edition reusable face mask which is available for purchase online on ITC Store and Kosmos. This special edition is also available at Jiu Guang Department Store in Shanghai.             The art work originated from a child with autism. The use of bright colours, and the simple and natural form attracted the research team and greatly touched them so that they became determined to use this beautiful art work to produce a special face mask. Besides, 110 pieces of the mask were donated to the social workers of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Welfare Council (SKHWC) to support their outbound activities. Ms Queenie Tam, Service Director of the SKHWC said, "During the pandemic, a team of school social workers is maintaining a close relationship with children and youngsters by keeping in touch on a regular basis through video conferencing. It is our privilege to have been given these colourful and eye-catching masks from Dr Joanne Yip of the Institute of Textiles and Clothing at PolyU. These masks will allow us, a team of school social workers, to draw the attention of children and youngsters, and bring positive energy to everyone through the beautiful patterns on the masks." About PU30TM PU30TM is an antiviral, washable and reusable mask. The face mask has been shown to in-vitro inhibit tested strains of influenza virus (H1N1) and the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) upon contact with its surface.

Prof. Fan @ International Colloquia on Thermal Innovations series hosted by MIT

Prof JT Fan, Head and Chair Professor of ITC, is internationally renowned in his field of specialism. His research focuses on improving understanding of the interactions among the human body, clothing and environment, and on that basis, developing fibrous materials and fashionable clothing with enhanced functional performance. His work is multi-disciplinary and involves instrumentation, computational modeling, biomimetics, nanotechnology as well as psychology. His reputation and expertise led to an invitation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to present at the 12th session of the International Colloquia on Thermal Innovations (InnoTherm) webinar series on 15 September 2020. Themed “Personal Thermal Comfort”, the webinar was hosted by Prof. Svetlana Boriskina, a physicist, engineer and research scientist at MIT. Other speakers included Prof. Renkun Chen, Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the University of California, San Diego and Prof. Yi Cui, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, of Photon Science at Stanford University. The Personal Thermal Comfort webinar can be accessed on Youtube. About InnoTherm The InnoTherm series aims to stimulate and highlight innovations and advances in theory, materials, devices, and systems for efficient thermal energy conversion, storage, transport and utilization. The colloquia include seminars and panel discussions, with speakers from around the world and across different disciplines. The colloquia are delivered online and interactive with audience. Eleven sessions have been hosted since April 2020, with nearly 50 world renowned researchers and scientists in the field who have shared their insights and findings. The Personal Thermal Comfort webinar can be accessed on Youtube.

Simran Gulati recognized as Millennium Fellow and Campus Director

Simran Gulati, a Year 3 retail and marketing student in the BA programme, was recognized by the Millennium Campus Network (MCN) and the United Nations Academic Impact as a Millennium fellow and a Campus Director at PolyU in the summer of 2020. Launched in 2018,  the fellowship is a semester long leadership development programme that convenes, challenges and celebrates student leadership for the United Nations goals. Simran dreams of making the fashion industry more sustainable and ethical. She believes that each consumer today has the power to make a change and therefore proposed “Rethinking Fashion”, a project that advances Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 11,12 and 13 (sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, and climate action) with the support and guidance of Dr Nuruzzaman Noor, ITC Research Assistant Professor. Simran explains the inspiration behind her project: “Being a fashion enthusiast, it’s so heart-breaking to see hordes of garments being dumped into the landfills which have hardly been worn. I want to create an awareness about how dumped clothing has a negative impact on our environment. To overcome this, I want to bring out humanity, a human connection to the garment which is missing today and how we can reuse our old clothing and give it one more round of life.” Along with another fellow, Muskan Shah, a Year 2 student who is majoring in retail and marketing in the BA programme, Simran has launched an Instagram page (@rethinking.fashion), which aims to inspire consumers to make conscious decisions on what to wear by providing them with easy to follow guidelines and tips, and featuring inspirational talks with industry specialists. Followers can also join the programme by becoming an ambassador to help rebuild fashion for the good of the community. Simran is very optimistic about their efforts: “We are already impacting more than 500 lives and recently goodonyou_app followed us, a renowned organization which rates fashion brands on the basis of a sustainability index to help consumers choose better”. Also, in her role as Campus Director, Simran facilitates training sessions for 12 fellows at PolyU where they learn and discuss about global frameworks and share how they can resolve the global issues. Simran also received the opportunity to learn and connect with several global leaders who are working towards sustainable development and Millennium Fellows across the world. Some of the leaders include Mr Sam Vaghar (Founder of MCN), Ms Sophia Kianni (youth advisor on climate change), Mr Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond (Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations) and many more. Another fruitful summer experience was interning at a luxury occasion wear label, Anushkaa Bajaj, in India. As a designer and merchandiser, Simran was able to explore her interests in a variety of assigned roles, like designing a collection for Spring/Summer 2020 and textile prints, analysing the current market trends, handling the store orders and alterations with senior merchandisers and assisting with fabric selection. This internship has further strengthened her interest, confidence, and determination and equipped her with practical knowledge and skills which will be really helpful for her future career. Simran said, “I am looking forward to more such opportunities which will be a valuable learning experience for me and hope to become a sustainable fashion entrepreneur to help rebuild fashion for good.”  

HK$10M funding for ITC researchers from Innovation and Technology Fund and General Research Fund

ITC researchers are well known for their projects that are diverse in scope and focus and their strong research capability.  As testimony to this fact, ten ITC led projects have been recently funded a total of HK$10M from external competitive funding schemes, including the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITC) from the Innovation and Technology Commission, and the General Research Fund (GRF). In fact, the projects also show the commitment of ITC staff members to the well-being of the community. The projects include investigating antiviral and antibacterial clothing and facemask, biofeedback system for adolescents with early scoliosis, skin-like water repellent fabric, fiber-based thermoelectric generators, and many more.  The funded research projects are listed below. Project Title Project-in-charge ITF Developing Healthcare Clothing with Antiviral and Antibacterial Function Prof. Chi-wai Kan Trial: Development of a Low-cost Textile-Skin Stickiness Tester (TSST) Simulating Dry, Moist and Wet Skin Contact Prof. Chi-wai Kan Anti-viral and Anti-microbial Durable Disinfectant Coatings for Facemask Prof. Xiaoming Tao Trial: Evaluation of An Innovative Body-Mapping Tank Top Equipped with Biofeedback System for Adolescents with Early Scoliosis Dr Joanne Yip   GRF Skin-like Stimuli Responsive Directional Flow and Water Repellent Fabric Prof. Jintu Fan Pressure behavior and mechanism of elastic pressure exerting and sensing fabrics for monitoring pressure of compression textiles Dr Tao Hua Creation of Weaving Technology, System and Apparatus for Fabricating Four-warp Leno Dr Li Li Design, Modeling, Fabrication and Evaluation of Fiber-based Thermoelectric Generators Prof. Xiaoming Tao A sustainable biocidal strategy for interior textiles based on N-halamine incorporated metal-organic framework Prof. John Xin Design, Modeling and Characterization of Multifunctional Fiber-based Materials with Customized Functionalities as a Functional and Structural Integrity Prof. Bingang Xu

“Add Meaning to Your Graduation” for Class of 2020

Online experience sharing session: Applications for RGC General Research Fund

The General Research Fund (GRF) is an important funding source which supplements the research support that universities provide to researchers who have achieved or have the potential to achieve excellent work. The GRF covers two areas of research work that focuses on enhancing either general knowledge or for specific purposes. These are: 1) basic research: to advance the frontiers of knowledge regardless of whether the work would provide immediate benefits to humankind; and 2) applied research: efforts that meet certain functional requirements which involve the application of theories to specific areas or for a specific purpose, and/or benefit humankind in the short to medium term. On 4 September, ITC organised the “Online experience sharing session on applications for RGC General Research Fund (GRF)” for our staff members. The session was chaired by Prof Hu Hong, Professor of ITC. ITC also invited Prof Tao Xiaoming, Chair Professor of Textile Technology; Prof Xu Bingang, Professor; and Dr L Li, Associate Professor, to share their success stories with other ITC members.