The textile and garment industry, once an important pillar of Hong Kong's light industry, has been in decline since the late 1970s. With the development of new technologies, new opportunities have emerged to revitalize Hong Kong's textile and garment industry.
In recent years, some new science and technology innovation enterprises have joined this traditional industry, while injecting new technologies, new materials, new models and other innovative elements. Looking forward to the aftermath of the pandemic, the textile and garment industry has the potential to become one of the models for Hong Kong to build a "new industry".
Automated production lines solve manpower problems
The main problems facing the revitalization of Hong Kong's textile and garment industry are, first and foremost, the high cost of land and manpower. "The industry has been thinking about how to reduce costs and achieve automation", Huang Weiqiang, professor of the Fashion Department of Zheng Yixiong and CEO of AiDLab of the University of Technology, mentioned in an interview with this reporter that a new industry solution is to use data and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve efficiency and ensure production quality.
(Huang Weiqiang)
The Artificial Intelligence Design Institute (AiDLab), which entered operations last year and is funded by the Hong Kong Government's InnoHK Innovation Hong Kong R&D Platform, is developing functional clothing and wearables by using AI and human body data to improve product standards and reduce costs.
"In the past, the accuracy of manual cloth inspection was generally only 70%, and only 15 meters of cloth could be tested per minute; but with the intelligent cloth inspection machine we developed, the accuracy could not only be increased to 90%, but the length of cloth inspection per minute could be increased to 60 meters." AiDLab cooperates with textile enterprises to develop intelligent cloth inspection machines using AI to improve the accuracy of cloth inspection. Emerging textile start-up Unspun is developing a "10 meters by 3 meters" automated 3D loom, Unspun co-founder Lin Kaiming said in an interview with this reporter: "(In the past) each traditional jeans production line, to use hundreds of clothing cars, but in the future we only need a 3D loom, can replace the entire production line." "In this way, textile companies have the opportunity to move back to Hong Kong."
Environmental protection elements are introduced into the production process The revitalization of Hong Kong's textile and garment industries also has pollution problems. One of the reasons for the decline of Hong Kong's textile and garment industry at that time was the serious pollution problem, especially after the establishment of the Drainage Services Department in 1989, a large number of bleaching and dyeing factories closed down or went north because they failed to set up sewage treatment stations.
Tao Xiaoming, chair professor of the Department of Textile and Clothing Science of the Polytechnic University, admitted in an interview with this reporter that foundry production (OEM) has become unworkable in Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong textile and garment industry after "re-industrialization" should no longer take the "high pollution" route, only the transformation into high value-added products. To reduce pollution, Unspun introduces eco-friendly elements. Lin Kaiming said that the jeans produced by the company mainly use recycled cotton, using odorous oxygen for washing and dyeing, which not only saves water, but also biodegradable (Bio-degradable), rather than leaving glue like ordinary jeans; in addition, the jeans produced by Unspun do not use iron "cowboy nails", but use recycled material buttons instead to achieve the effect of recycling.
New opportunities for new materials
In terms of capturing industrial development opportunities, new materials can be described as one of the opportunities for the upgrading and transformation of the textile and garment industries. The benefits of introducing new materials include the ability to be applied to existing machines for production, such as the use of new materials such as fibers and coatings.
Tao Xiaoming pointed out: "Manufacturers using new materials to make clothing can enhance competitiveness, increase profitability, and also use this to increase manpower and expand market share." Tao Xiaoming also said that the introduction of medical elements is an important opportunity for the industry: "For example, socks, the introduction of body temperature measurement functions can be used by hospitals to collect data, and the budget costs between hundreds and 1,000 yuan per pair. "For Hong Kong textile companies, the medical sector is a new opportunity," said Wong, adding that AiDLab will use the "4D Body Scanning Laboratory" to collect dynamic data to calculate body size and human body pressure distribution, and assist companies in developing functional clothing and wearable devices.
(Tao Xiaoming)
Huang Weiqiang revealed that AiDLab is working with hospitals to develop orthopedic functional clothing, with the goal of cooperating with volunteer agencies and nursing homes for the elderly to develop shoes suitable for diabetics. One reason why Hong Kong is expected to reintroduce the textile and garment industry is the rise of the individual model. "Compared with the 1960s and 1970s, today's textile and garment industry pays more attention to personalization and production speed, requiring "many styles, small batches and short production periods."
Luo Baiqiang, executive director of Cinda International and vice president of the manufacturers' association, who is engaged in the textile and garment industry, said in an interview with this reporter. Luo Believes that textile and garment companies can move some of the value-added processes back to Hong Kong: "Including processes such as prototyping, which used to take two weeks to complete, today it can be shortened to two to three days through 3D technology, which can improve the coherence of the production process and also improve the speed and efficiency." In response to the impact of the personalized production model, Unspun chose to set up production lines in different regions, Lin Kaiming said: "If the customer comes from Europe, we will naturally find Turkish manufacturers to produce." He explained that the above approach can avoid the risk of paralyzing the entire business in the event of a single market supply imbalance. (The third in the "Hong Kong New Industry" series.) ）
(Luo Baiqiang)
Incubators help transform industries
In recent years, Nan Fung Group, which was developed by textile transformation real estate, has established Nan Fung Workshop in recent years, which is committed to cultivating fashion technology companies and technology entrepreneurs, and establishing strategic partner training bases, venture capital funds, and workspaces. Regarding the possibility of "re-industrialisation" of Hong Kong's textile and garment industry, Nan Fung Workshop mentioned in response to this newspaper that Hong Kong mainly plays a bridge between China and the West, linking international fashion brands and mainland suppliers, manufacturers and retailers.
(Former Nan fung workshop)
Nan Fung Workshop pointed out that under the "re-industrialization" of the textile and garment industry, it is necessary to solve the existing problems from a more macro perspective. At the same time, we must develop towards sustainable supply chains and production methods. In recent years, Nan Fung Group has actively invested in and nurtured new textile start-ups, including the use of 3D scanning and textile technology to provide guests with jeans-made Unspun, and Algaeing, which uses algae as dyes and fabrics.
Unspun co-founder Lam Kai Ming admits that there are few incubators in Hong Kong that focus on retail, the Internet of Things and the clothing industry, and the advantage of Nan Fung Workshop is that the industries funded by the platform are related to physical products. Unspun was established in 2017 and earlier received US$7 million (about HK$54.6 million) in seed round financing, which Lin kaiming said will be used as Series A, B and C rounds in the future.
Talent training is essential
At present, although colleges and universities offer courses in the textile industry, they are also labeled as sunset industries.
Scholars and the textile industry believe that in addition to deepening knowledge training, it is also necessary to strengthen the training of designers, and at the same time, different training institutions should be integrated to create greater synergies. Tao Xiaoming, Chair Professor of the Department of Textile and Clothing at the Polytechnic University, said frankly that in order to promote the technological upgrading of Hong Kong's textile and garment industry, the lack of sufficient relevant knowledge training for students studying in the Department of Textile Studies is a major problem. She said: "In the past, data analysis and color management were required to ensure textile graduates, but due to the poor admission situation in recent years, the above subjects have been changed to no compulsory subjects, so that graduates in recent years have less relevant knowledge and skills." ”
In fact, in the study "Made in Hong Kong: A New Chapter of Hong Kong Industry" published earlier by the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, it was mentioned that Hong Kong has certain difficulties in hiring color managers, data analysts and programmers in the textile industry, and suggested that the Hong Kong government optimize the "re-industrialization and technology training scheme" to subsidize relevant enterprises to train talents, at the same time introduce new business models to revitalize traditional industries, hire older technicians in Hong Kong, and encourage re-employment and skills inheritance.
Luo Baiqiang, executive director of Cinda International and vice president of the manufacturers' association, believes that Hong Kong's textile industry is not complete, especially the shortage of talents for fashion designers. He suggested strengthening training to integrate Hong Kong's local culture with fashion: "Hong Kong fashion designers' international vision is lacking, and training can be aimed at, both with an international perspective and local feelings in Hong Kong." ”