Local fashion brands want every Friday to be 'Dress Hong Kong' day
Campaign urges people in the city to wear clothes designed in Hong Kong one day a week
Hong Kong fashion has been a hot topic of late, with calls for efforts to narrow the huge gap between succesful Western brands (both high fashion and high street) and the struggling local market.
The task might seem daunting, but as many industry insiders are saying: "If not now, then when?"
One group is taking the lead. The non-profit organisation Fashion Farm Foundation says Friday is the day for "Dress Hong Kong", and it has enlisted a number of local opinion leaders to push the agenda of wearing local brands on that day.
Having recently been in touch with chairwoman Edith Law (who established the foundation three years ago), I've been learning more about what is being done at the grass-roots level to support local designers and turn the tide with consumers, as well.
The foundation has a large headquarters in Lai Chi Kok. It belongs to Laws Group, Edith Law's family-owned apparel business, and has been turned into an incubation hub for a number of small local brands, which base their studios there. The Hong Kong Design Centre and the Nan Fung Group run similar programmes.
Law - who worked in finance in New York and ran local retailer Bread and Butter for many years - has emerged an unlikely champion in the local industry by putting creativity before commerce at the foundation.