Crossing into Taipei Fashion Week and Taoyuan Airport — AI Virtual Fitting with Inventec Unlocks a New Wearable Fashion Experience
The nearly four-month-long "2026 Hakka Fashion Awards" competition has just drawn to a close, but the momentum of Hakka fashion isn't stopping! The Hakka Affairs Commission of the Taipei City Government has announced that, beyond an exhibition at the Hakka Culture Theme Park, the award-winning garments will also move into Taoyuan Airport. Wu Wen-De, the Commission's Chairperson, said: "It is only when the works step off the runway that more people truly begin to get to know the Hakka." At the "Taipei Hakka Yimin Carnival," opening at the Taipei Hakka Culture Theme Park on October 25, Inventec will join in to create an interactive virtual fitting installation, turning the statically displayed garments into a digital technology experience that visitors can play with and interact with.
121 Teams of Rising Designers Compete for 11 Awards — Old Fabrics and Secondhand Accessories Stage the Philosophy of "Cherishing What We Have"
The "2026 Hakka Fashion Awards" is hosted by the Hakka Affairs Commission of the Taipei City Government (hereinafter "the Commission") and the Taipei City Hakka Culture Foundation (hereinafter "the Foundation"). The competition ran for nearly four months and attracted as many as 121 teams of design talent; after intense judging, 30 teams advanced to the finals, and 11 outstanding winners were ultimately selected. Curator Pani Yiliang said, with feeling: "A garment spends only a few dozen seconds on the runway, yet designers pour months of devoted effort into every single stitch."
This edition of the competition takes "Stitching Heritage · Weaving the Future" as its guiding theme. It not only draws on Hakka literature as the starting point of creative inspiration, but is also rooted in the traditional Hakka life philosophy of "loving and cherishing what we own," encouraging designers to respond to today's environmental issues through sustainable design, and letting old fabrics and secondhand accessories gain new life through ingenious remaking.
Linking Fashion Week and the Yimin Carnival — Wu Wen-De: Stepping Off the Runway Is Where Promotion Begins
To promote the outstanding winning works and raise their international visibility, the Foundation has rolled out a series of linked events: from October 1 to November 1, it responds to the Ministry of Culture's "Taipei Fashion Week," hoping to draw fashion-industry professionals, design students, and clothing enthusiasts to the Taipei Hakka Culture Center for the exhibition.
At the "2026 Taipei Hakka Yimin Carnival," which opens at the Taipei Hakka Culture Theme Park on October 25, the interactive virtual fitting installation created by the Inventec Group will turn statically displayed garments into a digital technology experience that visitors can play with and interact with. From November 6 to 25, the garment exhibition will move to the 100-ping (about 330 m²) exhibition hall on the fifth floor of the Hakka Culture Center, and a display at Taoyuan Airport is also planned for December.
Wu Wen-De, Chairperson of the Hakka Affairs Commission and CEO of the Taipei City Hakka Culture Foundation, said: "Many people assume a fashion competition ends once the prizes are handed out. In truth, it is only when the works step off the runway that more people truly begin to get to know the Hakka. This year we are bringing Hakka fashion into indoor venues, outdoor plazas, Taipei Fashion Week, and even an international airport, in the hope that people of every community, in all sorts of places, will encounter new faces of Hakka fashion wherever they go."
Excerpted sources:
- Stitching Hakka Literature into Clothing, Stitch by Stitch! The 2026 Hakka Fashion Awards Garment Exhibition Grandly Opens 【FTNN News Network Life Center】
- Hakka Fashion Awards Garments Arrive at the National Theater & Concert Hall's Arts Plaza This Weekend — 'AI Virtual Fitting' Steals the Show 【Hakka Village Center / Hung Yi-Hsuan】