The slowing down global economy, global trade and geopolitical tensions have become the threatening factors to the fashion and textile industry in Hong Kong.  In particular, the Sino-US trade tensions have resulted in a double-digit drop in the trade value index and procurement index of the clothing industry throughout 2019, and therefore a downward trend in the export prospect of the industry in 2020 is expected.  Major geopolitical risks happened in 2019, such as cyberattacks, the China-US trade tensions, Brexit, US sanctions, and military conflicts, will continue to bring out a gloomy economic outlook in 2020.  These factors sum up to a softening of global demand and less optimistic business environment in the years to come and aggregate a more stringent business development strategy.

In face of the global economic challenges, smart factory running Industry 4.0 can better utilise resources and enhance efficiency.  Higher value-added items, such as sustainable clothing for circular economy, easy-care fabrics, functional and smart textiles, and athleisure wear, have become the top product development trend.  The trend of e-tailing is a must-go as online shopping is increasingly popular, third-party payment has become mature, the growth of technologies allows virtual sampling, virtual fitting, mobile snapshot for clothing and design of personalised clothing items at one go.