After 20 seasons at Paris Fashion Week, Hong Kong‘s Fashion Farm Foundation creative showcase is nowhere near done.

“We’ve made Paris a home for our city’s designers and brands,” said Edith Law, cofounder and board member of the 12-year-old nonprofit organization. “It has exceeded our initial intention of giving them a bridge to the international market and turned into a true platform for cross-cultural exchanges.”

Since 2013, the French capital has seen more than 60 Hong Kong brands make their debut in FFF’s various formats, which spanned from arty physical installations during the COVID-19 era and multibrand runways to showrooms and exhibitions.

The jist of its program is helping designers present their collections at fashion weeks, go to market and network with international industry professionals. In addition to Paris, there have been traveling FFF showcases in New York City, Singapore, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai over the years.

Among those who have gone on to show independently are Caroline Hú and Anais Mak for her label Jourden. LVMH Prize for Young Designers 2024 semifinalists Derek Cheng and Alex Po, of Ponder.er, also took part in FFF in Paris after the lockdown in Europe.

For its spring 2026 edition, it’s 10 fashion labels and designers spanning womenswear, menswear and accessories.

Two of them, Kinyan Lam and Sweetlimejuice, are staging presentations with live models. Meanwhile, Hú’s Reverie label is on the official presentation schedule for the fourth time.

For Law, it was a tall order at the onset to become the first program from Hong Kong to partner with the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, as part of the Welcome to Paris selection of national and regional showrooms in 2019.

“There’s no shortage of talent in the city but they would often considering moves abroad to build their brands rather than rely on local support,” she continued. “Advocacy to foster a full-bodied creative scene at home required building a team and the right framework.”

That’s what she and FFF got through the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency, formerly known as Create Hong Kong, which allocates funding from the Hong Kong special administrative region government for culture-driven initiatives.

Now, the nonprofit counts around 10 staff members and has inked strategic partnerships with companies in Hong Kong and abroad for PR, production and business development.

What makes Law proudest is not just FFF’s achievements but the ripple effect it has created in Hong Kong, she said.

Projects like the PMQ creative hub and digital fashion initiative FabriX, which is also a regular at Paris Fashion Week, were launched.

In a bid to restore the city’s status on the global fashion map, the Hong Kong Fashion Council was established last year and launched the fashion week-style “Hong Kong Fashion Fest,” which had its first edition last December.

Law was keen to highlight that growing Hong Kong’s aura as a hotbed for fashion talent and enterprises wasn’t without challenges.

The city has gone through choppy years, from months-long demonstrations — much like Paris — the pandemic and now, an ongoing luxury downturn that has affected it as much as other major cities in Europe and the U.S.

Hong Kong’s local economy has also lost growth momentum, with emerging competition from neighboring retail hubs such as Shenzhen, Bangkok and Tokyo. Other challenges include a shortage of labor supply and innovative retail experiences.

“Retail has been suffering since COVID-19 and hasn’t fully recovered but we aren’t unique in that respect,” she said. “With FFF, we are doing our best, staying strong in the belief that creativity will not only survive but thrive with the right amount of local support.”

With women’s fashion weeks already well established, coming next for FFF are plans to expand with sessions during men’s and precollection seasons. Further structuring the support to help its designers with commercial development is also on the cards.