Digital & AI Fashion Design — Make It Easy!
Hong Kong’s Education Bureau (EDB) will run its “Digital Fashion Design (Re-run)” teacher training on 5 November 2026. The six-hour course is for secondary Home Economics, Technology and Living, and other Technology Education teachers. Led by Clothing Industry Training Authority instructors and an EDB Technology Education Curriculum Development Officer, it covers 3D computer-aided design software and ways to bring design thinking into fashion design teaching.
For Technology and Living teachers, 3D fashion design is hardly a new idea. A useful question comes one step earlier: before students learn professional tools, what is their first experience of designing clothes?
A simple first experience of fashion design
EDB’s Technology and Living newsletter once featured a student who went on to study fashion design at the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi). Her first experience of design and sewing in junior secondary school was making an apron and a cushion cover. Those relatively simple projects sparked an interest in fashion. She later chose the Fashion, Clothing and Textiles strand at senior secondary level, before pursuing further studies in fashion design.
Before students decide to choose a subject, however, they often need an easier starting point.
Let more students try: AI Fashion Designer 2.0
That is the thinking behind ConnectAR’s AI Fashion Designer 2.0.
Its predecessor, AR Fashion Designer, let students design and colour within prepared outlines. Version 2.0 takes the next step: students can draw freely on paper, then scan their work with a phone or tablet. Generative AI recognises the shapes, colours and details, turning the idea into a 3D garment that can be viewed from different angles in augmented reality (AR).
Students might draw a princess gown, a contemporary qipao or a design entirely of their own. The aim is to let junior secondary students see an idea become an outfit before they take on a full professional 3D fashion design package.
A quicker feedback loop creates more room for design thinking
Leo Lau, Co-founder and CEO of ConnectAR, believes that once students understand a design principle, they should have a chance to try it in their own way and see the result.
As Leo sir puts it: “When the ‘draw, see the result, revise’ feedback loop becomes quicker, there is more time to put design thinking into practice.”
From classroom to competition: different tools at different stages
In 2024, ConnectAR and THEi co-organised the first Hong Kong Digital Qipao and Chinese National Costumes Design Competition. More than 400 students from 77 schools and institutions took part. Primary and secondary students used AR to design Chinese national costumes, while tertiary students went on to make physical qipao.
This arrangement reflects the needs of different learning stages. Tertiary students can move into pattern making, fabrics, cutting and garment construction. Secondary students can begin with a tool that is easy to start using and lets them see the results quickly.
Everyone can be a fashion designer
Leo sir often says that ConnectAR has held a simple belief from day one: everyone can be a fashion designer.
That does not mean every student must go on to study fashion design. It means giving students a chance to draw, try and see their own work in 3D before they have decided where their interests lie.
For some, it may remain an enjoyable classroom experience. For others, it may be the first time they discover an interest in design. A few years later, one of them may be the student a teacher meets in a 3D fashion design class.
Further information for teachers
EDB’s “Digital Fashion Design (Re-run)” course, ITED20270007, takes place on 5 November 2026. The application deadline is 22 October 2026.
Related reading
To explore an accessible digital fashion design activity for junior secondary students or students who have not yet chosen a related subject, contact ConnectAR about AI Fashion Designer 2.0.
