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Hong Kong aims to be Asia's fashion center, but the Chinese territory has seen a big drop in clothing exports as the global economic crisis drags on. Now, the government is stepping in to stimulate the local fashion industry.
Hong Kong's Fashion Week features the usual parade of models on catwalks showing the latest designs, many of which end up in stores worldwide a year later. But as the global economic crisis lingers, exports of Hong Kong fashions are down more than 75 percent for January through April, from a year ago.
Felix Chung is chairman of the Hong Kong Apparel Society. He says that in the past, Hong Kong was a manufacturing center, but factories moved north to mainland China where costs are lower.
"All the manufacturers are changing their business model, from traditional manufacturing to design and manufacturing," said Chung. "They decided Hong Kong is the only city that has the ability to be the Asia Fashion capital."
Hong Kong's twice-a-year fashion weeks are mostly trade shows - bringing buyers and sellers together. In cities such as Paris and New York, fashion weeks are crammed with runway shows - where high-priced designers show off their work to celebrities and fashion journalists as well as to buyers.
To reinvigorate the fashion industry, the Hong Kong government says it will spend $1.3 million on promoting city's creativity.
This includes putting on a reality TV show centered on a design competition, similar to the popular U.S. show, Project Runway.

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