News

ITC launches first PolyU Fashion Online Contest 2020

In the spirit of adaptation, ITC promoted the designs of our graduating students on an online platform this year. The first ever PolyU Fashion Online Contest took place from 17 to 21 June 2020, where people are invited to cast votes for their preferred designs among the collections created by over 60 design students. The online contest was initiated and promoted by ITC student society (ITCSS) over social media platform of Instagram. With the contributions of ITCSS, the campaign has been a big success that the most preferred collections in three categories were selected from over 3000 valid votes, including 606 from PolyU community and the rest over 2400 votes from the public. After this campaign, ITC Instagram account has 400+ more followers, meaning an increase of 26% followers. Congratulations to all the awardees of PolyU Fashion Online Contest 2020! To view the creative design of the awardees, please visit the e-brochure. Awardees of the Fashion Online Contest 2020: Category Designer Name PolyU Fashion Online Contest Womenswear AU Ka Sin Top 15 Womenswear Collections-PolyU Top 20 Womenswear Collections-Public CHAN Lok Yin Top 15 Womenswear Collections-PolyU/Public CHAN Sau Lam Top 10 Womenswear Collections-PolyU/Public CHAU Chi Wing Top 20 Womenswear Collections-PolyU/Public CHAU Hiu Man Top 15 Womenswear Collections-PolyU Top 10 Womenswear Collections-Public CHUNG Siu Yan Top 20 Womenswear Collections-PolyU   HO Yin Yin Top 20 Womenswear Collections-PolyU/Public KAN Chung Ting Top 5 Womenswear Collections-PolyU Top 10 Womenswear Collections-Public LAI Hoi Lee Top 15 Womenswear Collections-PolyU/Public LAM Ka Man Top 15 Womenswear Collections-PolyU Top 20 Womenswear Collections-Public LEE Yuen Ying Top 10 Womenswear Collections-PolyU/Public LI Ka Kei Top 5 Womenswear Collections-PolyU/Public LI Yat Lam   Top 15 Womenswear Collections-Public LIU Hoi Tung Top 5 Womenswear Collections-PolyU/Public LO Sze Ching Top 10 Womenswear Collections-PolyU Top 5 Womenswear Collections-Public LUI Chi Yan Top 10 Womenswear Collections-PolyU Top 5 Womenswear Collections-Public NG Hoi Kei Top 10 Womenswear Collections-PolyU/Public NG Wing Yan Top 20 Womenswear Collections-PolyU/Public TANG Pui Shan Top 5 Womenswear Collections-PolyU Top 15 Womenswear Collections-Public YEUNG Sze Yung Top 20 Womenswear Collections-PolyU Top 15 Womenswear Collections-Public YU Cheuk Lam Top 5 Womenswear Collections-PolyU/Public Menswear/ Unisex FONG Cheuk Yi Top 5 Menswear Collections-PolyU/Public KWOK Hoi Yan LAM Wing LUK Tsz Ting TAI Wai Tung Knitwear CHU Chun Yee Top 5 Knitwear Collections-PolyU/Public HO Lam Chi LEUNG Yuen Ching WONG Mei Ting YEUNG Tsz Hei Marco * By alphabetic order of the names of awardees/designers.        

Prof. Xiaoming Tao writes commentary in Nature Electronics

Prof. Xiaoming Tao, Chair Professor of ITC, was invited by the chief editor of Nature Electronics to write a commentary/view article on a recently published paper written by Prof. Fabrien Sorin and his group at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland.  Nature Electronics is a top-tier journal that is ranked no. 3 on the Scimago Journal & Country Rank. The paper is titled “Liquid metal gives transmission lines a softer touch”, which discusses how fibre with a liquid-metal core and soft outer shell can be woven into textiles. The fibres can be used to simultaneously sense multiple compression and stretching events.  The ability to obtain information on the spatial and temporal distributions of mechanical stimuli, including compression, tensile, torsional and bending stresses, is important in the development of applications related to health monitoring, human–machine interactions and soft robotics. One-dimensional sensor probes based on fibres or cables are desirable for such purposes because they can be easily integrated into large-area textile fabrics. If a single fibre is capable of detecting multimodal deformations — with information on deformation mode, amplitude, time and location — then only one or two output ports at the fibre ends are required. In such a case, complex addressing circuits are not necessary, since they can be difficult to place in flexible fibrous structures like textile fabrics. Such fibres can also be potentially made in kilometre lengths and thus used in very large area sensing applications, for example, in bridges or on railway tracks.  For details of the paper, please click here.

49th Advisory Committee Meeting held successfully

The 49th meeting of the Advisory Committee on Textile and Clothing Industries took place on 3 July 2020 under the chairmanship of Ms Shirley Chan, Vice Chairman of YGM Trading Ltd. The committee members, which consist of the Head and Associate Heads of ITC, ITC committee chairs, and key industrial players, had a fruitful discussion. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some members attended the meeting virtually. The meeting was very productive as the external members who have a wide range of expertise, shared their expectations for ITC students and graduates, and offered very constructive suggestions and feedback to ITC towards its efforts in developing future teaching and learning practices, research directions, consultancy endeavors, and strategic plans. In her capacity as Chairperson, Ms Chan thanked ITC during the meeting for the comprehensive report on its latest developments and hoped that the sharing from the industrial practitioners would provide more insights to ITC for future developments in both academics and student learning. At the end of the meeting, Prof. Jintu Fan also thanked the members for their continual support. The comments, opinions and suggestions that were provided in the meeting are constructive and would be taken into serious consideration towards actions that would further improve ITC programmes, research work and partnerships.

ITC welcomes new Teaching Fellow

Dr Manas K Sarkar is a newly appointed Teaching Fellow in Fashion & Textile Technology. He earned his Ph.D. in Textile from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Before joining ITC, Dr Sarkar worked as Research Head in a Hong Kong-based textile company.  His academic interest is in weaving, fabric design, fabric comfort and functional textiles. He has wide experience in teaching, research and the industry.  

PolyU Intimate Fashion Show 2020

ITC held the PolyU Intimate Fashion Show 2020 on 9 July at the Hotel ICON, showcasing the creativity and design talents of 12 graduating students. The 12 collections of six outfits put on show were designed and produced by students majoring in Intimate Apparel and Activewear under ITC, with raw materials sponsored by intimate apparel manufacturers and suppliers. The chief sponsor this year is Nobeemas, a well-known high-end lingerie brand of Melaydoti. Three renowned figures in the design and fashion industry, Ms Beverly Black, Mr Dorian Ho and Mr Walter Ma, were invited to be the judges to select the Grand Prize of the show. ITC alumna and artist of TVB, Ms Chan Yan Yan, was also invited as MC for the show. The Grand Prize was won by Au Cho-Ying, Sally with her “Mountainous” sporty collection. Sally got her inspirations from huge mountains, she then made use of Chinese brush painting skills to illustrate the mountain sceneries, and combined them with the smocking patterns. Sally said sportswear is as skintight as intimate wear, she has taken much consideration to the functional features while doing tailoring: " I hope my designs can strike a balance of beauty and functionality – for example, the neckline should not be too high or too low. One can feel the comfort of wearing when doing sports while keeping a sleek look. Another student, Chow Ching-lam, Ariel's work "Infinity O" was chosen by the audience and as the " Audience Favorite". Ariel's design incorporates silver chains made up of small circles. Ariel explained that there are many limitations in real life, but she believes that "the only person that can set limits in life is yourself." Through this collection, she hopes to express her endless imagination and her courage to breakthrough. Prof. Wing-tak Wong, Dean of Faculty of Applied Science and Textiles, PolyU, expressed his gratitude to the industry for its generous support to the Show which enhanced the diversity of students’ learning experience. Prof. Jintu Fan, Chair Professor and Head of ITC, remarked that the students have overcome enormous challenges in completing their collections as the university was closed for a few months due to COVID-19 pandemic. Our students have fully demonstrated their innovation, talent and passion for intimate apparel and activewear design in the show. Ms Angie Lau, Chairman of Hong Kong Intimate Apparel Industries’ Association and the CEO of Clover Group International Limited, stressed that HKIAIA would continue to support and nurture the younger generation for the continuous development of the industry.

National Research Foundation of Korea awards major research grant to ITC collaborative initiative

ITC is very pleased to announce an exciting new collaborative initiative.  The National Research Foundation of Korea, which is one of the most privileged research funding sources in South Korea, has awarded  KRW 240,000,000 (≈HKD 1,550,000) for three years (2020-2023) towards a project proposal entitled “K-lifestyle co-creation of young Vietnamese consumers: Focused on millennials and Z generation”. This project is led by Prof. Ho Jung Choo (PI) and her research team at the Seoul National University (SNU) in collaboration with Dr Eunsoo Baek, Assistant Professor of ITC, Dr Sangwon Park, School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM), and the Hospitality & Tourism Institute (HTI) of the Duy Tan University (DTU). The initiative uses an interdisciplinary approach to integrate shopping/fashion marketing with tourism. This is a pioneering endeavour that establishes a trio relationship among three top universities in Asia.

Innovation and Technology Fund approves $26 million for ITC research projects

The Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF), which is administered by the Innovation and Technology Commission, has approved a total of HK$26M to fund eight ITC led projects in the past six months. The projects are diverse in scope and range from antiviral and durable clothing for healthcare workers to fabric for unidirectional liquid transport, medical pressure clothing, wearable energy fabrics, and antiviral, washable and reusable face masks, just to name a few.  These projects not only demonstrate the strong research capabilities of the ITC staff members but also their commitment to the well-being of the community.  Congratulations to the following successful recipients of the funding. Project Title Project-in-charge Trial: Development of a Low-cost Transplanar and In-plane Water Transport Tester for Fabrics Prof. KAN Chi Wai Developing Antiviral and Durable Clothing for Healthcare Worker in Elderly Home Prof. KAN Chi Wai Design and Development of Textile-based Vascular Prosthesis Dr LIU Rong 3D Printed Antivirus Materials and Application in Public Facilities Dr LO Kwan-yu Chris Nature Inspired Fabric for Unidirectional Liquid Transport Dr SHOU Dahua Key Technologies of Customized Intelligent Medical Pressure Clothing Prof. TAO Xiaoming Technology Development of Wearable Energy Fabrics Dr XU Bingang PUTM30 - Antiviral, Washable and Reusable Face Masks Dr YIP Joanne Yiu Wan

Academia and mass media jointly promote innovative research work of Prof. Jintu Fan and Dr Dahua Shou

Recently, a highly acclaimed research paper titled 'Skin-like' fabric for personal moisture management has been featured in the Hong Kong Economic Times, Sing Tao Daily and Ming Pao newspapers. This paper is co-authored by Prof. Jintu Fan, Head of ITC, and Dr Dahua Shou, Assistant Professor of ITC, and published in the Science Advances journal. The research work discusses a “skin-like” directional liquid transport fabric, which enables one-way liquid flow through spatially distributed channels that act like “sweat glands” yet repel external liquid contaminants. The water transmission rate can be 15 times greater than that of the best commercial breathable fabrics. This exceptional property is achieved by creating gradient wettability channels across a predominantly superhydrophobic substrate. The flow directionality is explained by the Gibbs pinning criterion. The permeability, mechanical property, and abrasion resistance (up to 10,000 cycles) of the fabric are not affected by the treatment. In addition to functional clothing, this concept can be extended to develop materials for oil-water separation, wound dressings, geotechnical engineering and flexible microfluidics applications, and fuel cell membranes. L. Lao, D. Shou, Y. S. Wu and J. T. Fan. “Skin-like” fabric for personal moisture management. Science Advances  03 Apr 2020, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz0013

Knitwear sustainable solutions – Knitwear design students collaborate on project with UPW

UPW, a leading spinner of high quality yarns, initiated a sustainable design project in January 2020 based on the inspiring theme of ‘Find the Beauty in what you have’. The company invited all BA Year 3 students who are majoring in Knitwear Design and Technology to take part in the project and provided them with used fabric swatches as the raw materials to recreate new designs. The students could freely experiment and develop their designs with the UPW swatches and other reused materials, and apply different techniques such as embroidery, crocheting and felting. The project allowed the UPW and our students to collaborate on a very meaningful project, which not only highlighted sustainability in fashion, but also encouraged our students to start thinking about the design process in different ways. On 17 June 2020, ten students presented their design concepts and prototypes at the UPW head office. Their work is innovative and interesting, and a variety of products that were made from the UPW swatches and recycled materials were shown to Ms Grace Lant, Designer of UPW. Ms Lant commented that the products are creative and exciting. She hopes that fashion sustainability would continue to be an integral part of future designs. After the presentation, UPW chose Tina Ngan and Leung Hiu-man as the winners for the best design, and will sponsor the yarn for their final collections next year. The UPW yarn collection comprises woollen-spun, semi-worsted and fancy twisted yarns, all dyed and spun at their own facilities in Dongguan, China. They produce design-led luxury yarn collections with amazing colours, and supply the most respected brands and retailers worldwide with exceptional yarns. In recent years, UPW has made a corporate commitment  to environmental protection and sustainability in the production process and to source natural fibres. The UPW is a member of the Better Cotton Initiative.

EcoMat organises two webinars on solar cells

Prof. Zijian Zheng, Professor of ITC, is the editor-in chief of EcoMat, a journal co-published by PolyU and Wiley. The aim of EcoMat is to publish on a wide variety of topics from different disciplines that share a focus on cutting-edge advanced materials for green energy and the environment. In May and June 2020, EcoMat organized two webinars on solar cells. The first webinar, “EcoMat Perovskite Solar Cells Webinar”, was held on 20 May which featured the following speakers and topics: Prof. Sang Il Seok of the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology: “The impact of A-site cationic management in ‘APb13’ perovskite solar cells” Prof. Hongwei Han of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology: “Highly stable printable mesoscopic perovskite solar cells” Prof. Feng Yan of PolyU: “Strategies for achieving high-performance Sn-based perovskite solar cells” The second webinar, “EcoMat Organic Solar Cells Webinar”, was held on 17 June and featured the following speakers and topics: Prof. Feng Gao of Linköping University : “Voltage losses in organic solar cells” Prof. He Yan of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology: “How to make efficient non-fullerene organic solar cells – material design, device optimization and operation mechanism” Prof. Yingping Zou of Central South University: “A-DA’D-A type (or Y-series) acceptor based organic solar cells”