At Fashion Walk in Causeway Bay, five Hong Kong labels and five Italy-based designers come together for a closer look at where menswear could be heading next.

If you’re in Causeway Bay this week, there’s a good reason to make a stop at Fashion Walk. Future Threads: Menswear’s New Waves Between Italy and Hong Kong has taken over two floors of the space, bringing together ten emerging menswear labels from Hong Kong and Italy and giving visitors an early look at their Spring/Summer 2027 collections.
The exhibition is part of this year’s Hong Kong Fashion Fest and marks a collaboration between the Hong Kong Design Centre and Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, the organization behind Milano Fashion Week. Sara Sozzani Maino, CNMI’s International New Talent and Brands Ambassador and a longtime supporter of emerging designers, curates it.

Inside, a red path runs through an otherwise industrial-looking setup of metallic partitions, clothing racks, screens, and mannequins. The clothes have plenty of room, which helps because the point isn't to present one neat idea of where menswear is going. The exhibition’s theme, “INFLECTION,” looks instead at how designers are playing with tailoring, materials, gender, sustainability, and the usual rules of men’s clothing.
For Maino, the Italian selection was a chance to show a side of the country’s fashion scene that can get overshadowed by its famous houses.
“It’s about showing the new generation of menswear in Italy,” she said. “I think it’s a selection that brings really a view of what’s happening in Italy and maybe Italy and the new generation, which is not just about clothing itself, but it’s about also storytelling, the fact of also pushing the boundaries.”

The five Italy-based labels are DOMENICO OREFICE, GROSSI, MATERIA, MTL STUDIO, and VICTOR-HART. Maino wanted to make clear that a new generation of Italian fashion does not necessarily mean designers born in Italy. It also includes international creatives who have chosen the country to develop their brands.
Hong Kong gets equal billing. ÆNRMÒUS, MURFI LAU, PONDER.ER, THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER, and WILSONKAKI make up the other half of the exhibition, giving the project a nice back-and-forth. Maino was already familiar with some of the Hong Kong names, but not all.
“It was also an idea to see how it’s evolving Hong Kong in its fashion scene,” she said. For her, part of what stood out was “the roots and traditions which they bring over with their brand, and also the vision, which is almost kind of a project rather than a brand.”

You can see what she means as you move through the exhibition. The labels do not all approach menswear from the same place. There is tailoring, but also deconstruction, unusual proportions, technical ideas, and pieces that are much less interested in maintaining a strict line between menswear and womenswear. Some collections feel very tied to where their designers come from, while others would sit comfortably on a rack in Milan, Paris, Hong Kong, or anywhere else.

The variety is the best part of the show. Future Threads is not asking you to leave with a tidy conclusion about “the future of menswear.” But, it presents ten different perspectives in front of you and shows how much the category has opened up.
As Maino put it, “These 10 designers have shown how passion can be seen in different ways, and yeah, the end product is clothing. But at the same time, I think it’s very important to hear what’s behind the whole story, and also the quality and the craft, and also the messages they want to give throughout the projects.”

The opening on September 2 made that point even clearer because several guests wore the clothes. MIRROR member Ian Chan arrived in WILSONKAKI, Anson Lau wore MTL STUDIO, Chris Tong appeared in ÆNRMÒUS, Faye Tsui chose MURFI LAU, and Noel Li wore PONDER.ER. MEOVV member Gawon was also among the guests. See the attendees below.

Ian Chan in WILSONKAKI. Courtesy of Fashion Asia Hong Kong.

Anson Lau in MTL STUDIO. Courtesy of Fashion Asia Hong Kong.

Chris Tong in ÆNRMÒUS. Courtesy of Fashion Asia Hong Kong.

Faye Tsui in MURFI LAU. Courtesy of Fashion Asia Hong Kong.

Meaning Wong in WILSONKAKI. Courtesy of Fashion Asia Hong Kong.

Noel Li in PONDER.ER. Courtesy of Fashion Asia Hong Kong.

Courtesy of Fashion Asia Hong Kong.

It is also worth seeing Future Threads in the context of what is happening across Hong Kong this month. The exhibition is one of eight flagship programs under the third Hong Kong Fashion Fest, alongside Fashion Asia Hong Kong 2026, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Future Threads: Menswear’s New Waves Between Italy and Hong Kong runs until September 13, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. daily at Shop 3, G/F and 1/F, 2–4 Kingston Street, Fashion Walk, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

Inside ‘Future Threads,’ the Exhibition Connecting Hong Kong and Italy’s New Menswear Wave

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