While what was once the most important sector in Hong Kong’s manufacturing industry now constitutes only a tiny percentage of the city’s GDP, let’s not forget it still has strong potential to become a brand builder in the region.

The city is known for both its high-quality products and high-end R&D capabilities. Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Institute of Textiles and Clothing, for example, is ranked at the top globally for its research performance and impact on industry.

Hong Kong should continue to invest in R&D in the industry, to sharpen its competitive edge in the design and production of high-quality, environmentally sustainable textiles and apparel products. While it might be a tall – if not impossible – order for Hong Kong to build a clothing brand that can rival market giants such as Uniqlo, the city remains a major trendsetter in the region.

With a strong talent pool and R&D capacity, Hong Kong’s textiles and apparel industry is in a better position than many of its competitors to navigate a changing regional and global economic order. Hong Kong remains an attractive business destination with extensive trade and production networks in East Asia.

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Hong Kong is a leading international sourcing hub for textiles and apparel products. By removing trade and investment barriers between regional markets, the mega trade deal not only creates new market space for Hong Kong’s textiles and apparel manufacturers when commerce with the US and the European Union has been badly hit by the pandemic and geopolitical uncertainty, but it also provides an opportunity for them to restructure their supply chains.

With Hong Kong’s middleman role in hosting trade fairs and expos, the city could further innovate by, for example, developing new and upgrading existing e-commerce platforms to facilitate information exchange, verify buyers and suppliers, and provide transactional support. 

Hong Kong is once again at a crossroads of change. While some want the city to cling to what has worked in the past, others want it to abandon whatever is deemed to belong to history.

However, change and continuity should never be seen as a binary opposition. Hong Kong should be confident in its human capital and research capability, while leveraging its existing and expanding international connections to reinvigorate its textiles and apparel industry. Such a move will help diversify the economy away from its reliance on finance and property development.

Wai-Hong Tang is an independent researcher on the international political economy of East and Central Asia. Neville Lai is an independent researcher