News

「國家教育部2020年度高等學校科學研究優秀成果獎(科學技術)」提名公示

Prof. Jason Choi publishes in Production and Operations Management journal

ITC congratulates Prof. Jason Choi for the recent publication of his paper in Production and Operations Management, a premier business journal that is listed in all major business school journal lists (for example, The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) journal list, Financial Times Top 50 Journals list, Business Week list, etc.). The paper is based on research on supply chain management with risk considerations, which is an important research area that is especially relevant to supply chains that produce and sell short-life fashion products. In the literature, the classical newsvendor model is often used to explore inventory management problems in supply chains that sell short-life fashionable and seasonal products. The standard newsvendor problem seeks to minimize the expected inventory cost or maximize the expected profit. However, optimizing an expected value alone does not fully capture the stochastic nature of the newsvendor problem. Inspired by the Nobel prize winning mean-variance theory in economic sciences and the higher-moment analyses explored in the finance literature, Professor Choi and his co-authors theoretically conduct a mean-variance-skewness-kurtosis (MVSK) analysis for the newsvendor problem. They first derive the analytical expressions for the mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis of profit in a standard newsvendor setting and reveal their structural properties. They then establish various MVSK optimization problems and find the solution to each of them. They show that kurtosis aversion always causes the newsvendor to order less, while skewness seeking can cause the newsvendor to order either more or less depending on the specific structure of the profit’s skewness, which is affected by the symmetric and asymmetric properties of the demand distribution. Finally, they address the challenges of supply chain coordination based on the Pareto optimality concept. They reveal that considering the MVSK preferences of supply chain agents will significantly affect the achievability of supply chain coordination and flexibility of the coordinating contract. Zhang, J., S.P. Sethi, T.M. Choi*, T.C.E. Cheng. 2020. Supply Chains Involving a Mean-Variance-Skewness-Kurtosis Newsvendor: Analysis and Coordination. Production and Operations Management 29(6), 1397-1430. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.13159

New ITC tagline – Pioneering Fashion and Textile Education and Research

ITC is introducing a new tagline in our efforts to enhance the awareness and understanding of PolyU staff, students, alumni, and industrial and education partners on the essence of our brand and uniqueness - Pioneering Fashion and Textile Education and Research 創意時尚 編織未來. We are proud of our history and achievements at ITC. The new  tagline perfectly conveys a powerful message to the community which will increase rapport with our friends and earn their support in achieving our vision and missions.

Dr Chloe Ki publishes top downloaded paper

ITC is pleased to announce that a paper written by Dr Chloe Ki and published in Psychology and Marketing has been recognized by Wiley-Blackwell as the one of the top most downloaded papers among work published between January 2018 and December 2019.  According to the March 2018 issue of the Association of Business Schools Academic Journal Quality Guide, Psychology and Marketing is one of the most highly regarded journals in the field. In recognition of Dr. Ki’s research entitled “The mechanism by which social media influencers persuade consumers: The role of consumers’ desire to mimic”, she received a certificate of achievement from Wiley-Blackwell which was also given to recognize that her research has had immediate impacts and helped to increase the visibility of Psychology and Marketing. In this study, Dr. Ki and Dr. Kim investigated the mechanism through which social media influencers (SMIs) persuade consumers to adopt certain brands. Their research provided empirical evidence after analyzing the responses of 395 U.S. consumers on how the process of influence by SMIs occurs in four principal stages: (1) the attempts of SMIs to influence (showcasing H1: attractive; H2: prestigious; H3 and H4: expert; H5: informative; and H6: interactive Instagram contents); (2) the attitudinal response of the target consumers to the influence exercised (evaluating the SMI as a H7: taste and H8: opinion leader); which, in turn, affects (3) the desire of the targets to comply (the desire to mimic); and ultimately (4) their favorable behavioral outcomes (H9: social media word‐of‐mouth and H10: purchase intentions). The empirical findings provide important insights for the current SMI literature as follows. First, the research work has identified the principal traits — i.e., specific qualities of the social media contents of SMIs (e.g., attractiveness, prestige, expertise, information and interaction)—that enable SMIs to appeal to peer consumers and amass followers. Second, the research indicates that it is both the taste and opinion leadership of SMIs that serve as equally important criteria in the evaluations of consumers of them. Third, the research provides initial insight for the literature by indicating that the desire of consumers to mimic SMIs plays a critical mediating role in translating the positive attitudes of consumers (i.e., viewing SMIs as taste and opinion leaders) into favorable behavioral outcomes (i.e., sharing the posts of SMIs or purchasing the same products, services or brands endorsed by the SMIs).

ITC students are Fashion Future Challenge Award 2019 Champion

The Fashion Future Challenge Award is a student fashion competition for universities and tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Aside from the two teams of ITC students who took part and were selected as finalists in the 2019 competition, the other competing teams included students from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and The University of Hong Kong. One of the teams of ITC students with BA Years 3 and 4 students, including Leung Wai-chi Vincci, Lo Ching-yin Michelle, Ng Hoi-kei Kylah and Yu Ying-wa Sophos, received Champion for their proposal “Sustainable Dyes”.  The second PolyU team selected as a finalist included BA Year 3 students Ma Hoi-Yan Phyllis and Wong Lok-tin Jackson. The winning team proposed to reduce the amount of chemical pollution that results from the production of garments and give new life to the food waste produced by the community by turning food and other yard waste like flowers and leaves into sustainable organic dyes. At the same time, they proposed to increase the life span of each piece of fabric to reduce local textiles and clothing waste. They were awarded an internship opportunity at the Nan Fung Group and a cash prize of $15,000 sponsored by The Mills Fabrica. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the finalists submitted their video presentations for final assessment to a panel of judges, who included the Hon. Felix Chung Kwok-pan, Mr Alexander Chan of The Mills Fabrica, Prof. Philip Yeung of the Clothing Industry Training Authority, Ms Kay Liu of Redress, Ms Karen Ho of WWF-Hong Kong and Mr Kelvin Cheuk of American & Efird (HK) Ltd. About the Summit and the Award The Fashion Summit (Hong Kong) is an event that focuses on "Sustainable Development In Fashion". The event brings together leading academics, key players from the fashion industry, NGOs, the media, decision makers and leaders to achieve sustainable fashion in Asia. The Summit was held successfully on 5 and 6 September in 2019. The Fashion Summit is a platform for the next generation to brew, exchange and share their creative ideas that help to tackle future fashion challenges in the next 5 to 10 years. One of the highlights of the Summit, the Fashion Future Challenge Award, aims to help students propose solutions to the fashion industry towards future challenges; enhance their creativity as well as critical thinking, problem-solving and presentation skills; and exchange ideas with specialists/professionals from the industries. The judging criteria for the proposals focused on the four following areas: Innovativeness: Demonstrate insight into the industries and capability to meet industry needs Feasibility: Viability of application of proposed solutions in the industries Sustainability: Balance among economic, social and environmental performances Content Comprehensiveness: Application of acquired skills and theoretical knowledge to provide innovative and practical business solutions

ITC Summer Internship Programme 2019/20 - Learning beyond the classroom

Since 2016, ITC has been committed to cultivating well-rounded graduates with vision and a global outlook, a sense of social responsibility, and critical and creative thinking abilities by organising an annual summer programme for our BA students. Students will appreciate that this Summer Internship allows them to apply classroom theory in the workplace to meet the needs of the industry and society at large. They also receive real-life work experience while applying their knowledge and problem solving skills to address and manage actual problems at work. Employers also benefit by finding the right candidates to meet their company needs. Prof Kan Chi-wai, Chairman of the Internship and Career Services Taskforce explained, “This year, a total of 15 companies in the fashion and textiles industry are offering over 40 intern positions, both locally and overseas, to ITC students in the summer. Selected students will be working in the companies for seven weeks during their summer semester.” Over 160 BA students have submitted their application to compete for the very limited number of internship positions.

Online teaching at ITC

Face-to-face teaching and hands-on laboratory and studio sessions have been suspended since the end of the Chinese New Year holiday on 3 February 2020 in response to the challenge of addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. ITC senior management has closely monitored the situation, devised prevention and control measures, as well as coordinated and facilitated online teaching resources with various parties in their efforts to help students continue with their learning. Nearly 60 online classes were smoothly conducted via MS Teams in the past five weeks. Subject lecturers, and local and overseas students interacted with each other in an online environment. The lecturers share some of their thoughts. Fashion Visual Merchandising - Dr Eunsoo Baek, Assistant Professor Running a class without the physical presence of more than 80 students was challenging at first, but I find that there are always positive sides of a new attempt. Advanced technologies allow us to communicate in digital settings almost without constraints and sometimes better with the digital natives like our students. For the tutorial sessions that include lots of hands-on activities, I’ve transformed them into online activities. The most useful toolkit is an online survey platform that can contain diverse formats of contents such as images and videos and different types of questions ranging from multiple choice to open-ended essays. Promoting group discussion was the most tricky part but soon solved by selecting a facilitator for each group. To encourage and manage the participation of students in their group activities, they had to submit the name list of the “attended” group members in the worksheet. Fashion Design and Knitwear Design - Dr Joe Au and Dr C.P. Ho, Associate Professor To carry out the online teaching of design subjects, we modified the teaching format and delivered the theory-based materials first. We also encouraged students to participate and maintained interaction by asking related questions through online ‘chat’. A Q & A session was scheduled near the end of the lecture and students were able to easily review the teaching materials. In general, the design students were quite positive about the online teaching arrangement for the essential theory-based materials found in fashion and textile design practices. Colouration and Finishing for Knitwear - Dr Nuruzzaman Noor, Research Assistant Professor As we transitioned into the use of digital technologies to reproduce the lecture experience, the excellent infrastructure and technical support at PolyU has helped my students and I stay connected and engaged, so as to maintain student learning outcomes. Successful distance-learning has required self-discipline, organisation of easy access to course materials and most importantly, the support and active involvement of students. My experiences show online instruction as a streamlined lecture delivery method that allows interaction with students in a fluid, interactive manner. This includes the use of online tests, crossword puzzles, modular lecture sections, live chats with students, etc. Whilst the online lecture delivery method is unlikely to make physical, in-class lectures obsolete any time soon, the value of incorporating digital technologies and remote learning principles has been an extremely valuable, if unexpected, experience that will likely play a larger role in all aspects of my teaching in the future. Advanced Apparel Technology - Dr Roger Ng, Senior Teaching Fellow I redesigned and reworded the course contents into a story that involved product development activity to simulate the request of quotations between buyer / fashion designer. Besides, style information is discussed interactively among groups of students via Google document. All of the groups can share their ideas with each other as well as other groups. “I became a DJ of a radio programme, and the students became my fans. We shared stories about product development processes, and played games to guess the consequences of making silly or careless mistakes. It was fun,” Dr Ng said. Bra Construction; Introduction to Intimate Apparel and Activewear Design; Intimate Apparel Design Project - Ms Nico Liu, Instructor Videos of bra sewing steps with clear subtitle and labeling are produced. Students are encouraged to watch the videos in advance and raise questions during the online class. To enhance the learning experience, a mobile app is being developed to create augmented reality (AR) table-top learning environment. It integrates the real environment with virtual learning scenarios in a student-friendly and engaging manner.

Filtration mechanisms of fibrous filters better modelled

From face masks to indoor air filters, understanding filtration mechanisms is essential for optimizing filtration efficiency with minimal pressure drop. Nevertheless, current filtration models are largely based on the assumption that the fibrous medium is homogeneous with a single fiber located at the center of individual cells. Such models have failed to take into account the non-uniformity of fibrous media in terms of the fiber diameter and orientation, and pore size distribution in real filters. In a recent paper published in the Separation and Purification Technology journal (Volume 236, 1 April 2020, 116037) that is co-authored by Prof. Jintu Fan, Head of ITC; Prof. Xiaoming Qian, ITC alumnus and Professor at Tianjin Polytechnic University; and their research students, the distribution of the fiber diameter, fiber orientation and pore size distribution in actual fibrous filters have been successfully incorporated into a filtration model based on fractal and statistical theories, which contributes to the future development of filtration materials. The paper can be accessed by visiting: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1383586619326656

Solution for improved fitting in ready-to-wear apparel

The sizing of ready-to-wear apparel is typically based on the body shape of human models that are hired by apparel companies. However, the differences in body shape of a consumer versus the model result to a certain degree, a loss of fit. To ensure optimum fit of a targeted population, sizing systems should minimize aggregate loss of fit. In a recently published paper in the Textile Research Journal co-authored by Prof. Jintu Fan, Head of ITC, Prof. Susan Ashdown, Emerita Professor of Cornell University and their PhD student, Jie Pei, a novel fit-loss function was proposed to identify differences between three dimensional scanned models of the human body so as to optimize the fit of ready-to-wear apparel with a limited number of sizes. The concept was then tested on intimate apparel. The paper can be accessed by visiting: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0040517519901318 The preparation of scans. Self-defined bust and underbust planes Moiré patterns as a reference to determine the upper boundary of breasts The coordinates of the missing points were replaced by NaN's The scan after processing (Points on the bust plane at z = 0 were highlighted in red)

Li & Fung supports ITC students in international retail competition

Li & Fung will support four ITC students to participate in the Future Retail Challenge student competition in Rome, Italy in October 2020. The competition has become a popular component of the World Retail Congress, which promotes future talent in the retail industry worldwide. Li & Fung has been an ardent supporter of ITC for this competition during the past 12 years. During the preparation for the competition, Li & Fung senior management members judged the auditions to select the ITC finalists. They not only provided mentorship to develop creative ideas but also resources to actualize the idea into a deliverable outcome. Students had the opportunity to visit the firm to conduct a presentation to the board members and receive feedback. In addition, Li & Fung will provide all of the financial support for students to participate in the Future Retail Challenge student competition, including registration fees, travelling expenses, and accommodations. Often they offer industry connections in the nearby cities of the event so that students and faculty can embark on an industry tour. ITC teams have won champion five times and 1st runner-up twice in the past 12 years. ITC would like to take this opportunity to extend its sincere appreciation to Li & Fung for its ongoing support. The invaluable opportunity and mentorship have become one of the highlights of our undergraduate programs, and subsequently attracted high calibre fashion business students. ITC is sending its best wishes to the new ITC team and hope that they will be recognized for their talent and hard work in the largest conference event for retail industries.