Hong Kong’s commerce chief yesterday revealed details of a planned fashion and design hub in Sham Shui Po.
Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah said the hub would be completed by 2023 at the earliest and would include 3,600 square meters of usable floor area, reported the government’s news service.
The Standard quoted Yau saying the center would be located in a five-story commercial building on Tung Chau Street, be developed under the Urban Renewal Authority, and be run by the Hong Kong Design Center.
The building will house a design gallery, co-working spaces, a design and material library and an incubation center (which we assume are to help fashion fetuses reach full term).
It will run workshops and design and fashion showcases and “transform the area into a fashion landmark”, the government news service stated.
Yau highlighted the district’s long history of fabric and garment trading, noting it was already popular with fashion and design professionals and enthusiasts.
“We believe Hong Kong has a very good ecosystem for design as well as fashion, and particularly in the district of Sham Shui Po,” Yau said, according to RTHK.
“Sham Shui Po is a district with a long history of trading in apparel, fabrics and garment-related accessories. To date, it remains an active wholesale and retail hub for those trades.”
He however acknowledged the hub will not be for vendors from the Yen Chow Street Hawker Bazaar, a famous fabric market that faces demolition in order to make way for a public housing project.
Some vendors are also upset that more than a dozen traders were considered ineligible for the package because they could not prove their identity as vendors at the site.
In 2016, the government offered eligible vendors from the site a compensation and relocation deal which would see them move to the Tung Chau Street Temporary Market — currently a wet market — which will be developed into a fabric market.
However, the SCMP reported in December 2016 that most of the store owners viewed the deal as insufficient and are concerned about costly rents at the new site.
Some fabric vendors still remain at Yen Chow Street despite the government ordering them to vacate the premises.
