FabriX

EVENT DESCRIPTION

With createpreneurship at heart, Hong Kong’s leading creative hub PMQ is all about translating creativity into business opportunities and nurturing young fashion designers and entrepreneurs from the city. Presented by PMQ with Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) as the Lead Sponsor, FabriX is Hong Kong’s pioneering digital fashion initiative to break into the realms of this new reality of weaving pixels into fashion – a first of its kind in facilitating local fashion designers from sketch, design, 3D digital production to listing on digital fashion marketplaces and NFT platforms globally. From 1 to 11 September, 2022, a 11-day event will be hosted at PMQ to allow the public to understand and experience the infinite possibilities of digital fashion through a series of showcases and design dialogues.

The fashion industry is undergoing a revolution brought by the pandemic in the past two years.
As the world slowly opens up again, the fashion world is coming back to life, facing never-ending changes and new challenges — yet with new opportunities. The advantages of the traditional way of producing fashion are diminishing and the pandemic has sped up the migration of the entire population into a world of Web 3.0. Major fashion houses and lifestyle brands are diving into the Metaverse with virtual products and collectibles. Sustainability is not only a challenge to all brands and designers, it also becomes a major mission for the long term development of the industry.

These two engines are fuelling the fashion industry into a new era of digital fashion, and PMQ takes the lead to be the catalyst in connecting local talented designers to opportunities from new business models and revenue streams made possible by NFT marketplaces and platforms globally and in Hong Kong.

Breaking boundaries with advanced technologies
Avatars, with customisable digital apparel, for 3D virtual players is an important part in the gaming world. Selfies and OOTDs (Outfit Of The Day) are an inseparable part of the social media culture and trending habits of the youth. With the growing popularity of avatars on social media and online meetings, and advent of NFT and Metaverse, digital fashion is transcending the gaming world onto traditional fashion runway, in a not-so-traditional way.

Augmented Reality (AR) enables Digital Fashion to be ‘worn’ in the physical world. Combining the virtual garment with real life photos, the user can ‘dress up’ and share their outfits on social media. AR-Try-on breaks through the barriers of materials and sizing, and transcend the physical limitations of gender, age and physique — enabling a new creative territory of fashion with textures and cutting beyond imagination.

Digital fashion stretches the limits of design, weaving with pixels instead of textiles and creating colours, materials and textures beyond our knowledge of fashion. With AR effects and filter, the diversity and surrealism of digital garments creates futuristic outfits. Combining the AR technology, users can either ‘dress’ their virtual self, or apply the augmented reality for IRL (in real life) photoshoots. With outfit replacement at the swipe of a finger, digital fashion enables you to create fashion statements in reality and the Metaverse. What’s more, digital fashion is becoming value-added digital collectibles for a new generation of art collectors that embraces zero waste
and sustainability values.

FabriX presents: 12 Hong Kong fashion designers, 60 pieces of virtual garment
Navigate the new frontier of global digital marketplace

The Open Call of FabriX was met with great enthusiasm. From over 60 entries, the vetting panel selected 12 outstanding designers. They will receive funding, digital fashion production guidance and support from professional digital collaborators to build their first digital fashion product. The designers will each design and produce 5 pieces, culminating in a total of 60 pieces of virtual fashion items for FabriX. The virtual garments will be available on various digital platforms across social media, digital fashion marketplaces, NFT platforms and the Metaverse.

Bringing designs to life: Wizards of digital fashion technology
Supported by 7 local 3D digital elites
Creating digital fashion requires traditional fashion skills, such as handling textiles and sewing, and also the technical expertise of 3D software and animation production. FabriX pairs up each designer with one of the 7 digital and technical experts, the other vital creator of breathing life into the digital fashion products. With technical background ranging from filmmaking, animation, advertising and gaming, these digital wizards include: Video producer Dennis Yeung from MilPicture; Video producer Eddy Wong from ICE Production; Kaicho Wong, founder of animation start up Late Studio; Multimedia production house Wai Wai Wai Studio; Ken Ng and Chan Tze Him from Watto Studio; and 3D Animators Jose Lai and Wyatt Lau from itchy creation and Wyatt Lau Visuals respectively.

Find FabriX on BlueArk, DRESSX, THE DEMATERIALISED
With the aim to showcase Hong Kong’s thriving digital creative cluster to the world, PMQ has connected with 3 international and local digital fashion marketplaces and NFT platforms to roll out fashion creations from FabriX. They include BlueArk, a local NFT trading platform, THE DEMATERIALISED (DMAT), London-based experiential marketplace for digital fashion NFTs and DressX, founded by Ukrainian eco-activists Daria Shapovalove and Natalie Modenova. Global collectors and fans can discover, enjoy and purchase the garments beginning from Mid-September.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) is a dedicated office set up by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in June 2009 to spearhead the development of creative industries in Hong Kong. From 1 July 2022 onwards, it is under the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau. Its strategic foci are nurturing talent and facilitating start-ups, exploring markets, and promoting Hong Kong as Asia’s creative capital and fostering a creative atmosphere in the community. CreateHK sponsors PMQ to organise FabriX, deTour and other projects to promote Hong Kong design.