Benson Yau joined his family business American Phil Textiles Limited in 1994 upon graduating from Waterloo University of Waterloo in Canada with a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering.  He assumed the role of Managing Director in 1999.  In addition to managing Hong Kong operations, Benson oversaw the setup of the new manufacturing facilities in Thailand, Vietnam, and China.  He is responsible for the Group’s business development and marketing functions.  Benson had been the Vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Intimate Apparel Industries’ Association (HKIAIA) from 2004 until 2019.  In 2021, Benson assumed the role of Chairman of HKIAIA.

American Phil was established in 1969 in Hong Kong. The company manufactures and exports designer men’s and ladies’ underwear, t-shirts, and loungewear.   They employ over 2000 employees globally and the company export 30 million pieces of garment to the US, the EU and Asian. The company has received numerous supplier awards for excellent services and quality production. which was written down as the quality policy of the group “Speed, Quality, Service”.

Mr. Peter Hui has been in the textile and apparel industry for about 23 years and has actively participated in activities with various associations to promote knitwear fashion design and nurture the local young talents. In the meantime, Mr. Hui has assisted in the development of the Specification of Competency Standards (SCS) in the Fashion Industry Training Advisory Committee so as to enable the practical skills and qualifications of practitioners can be well recognized by the industry and society, and sponsored the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) funding project known as “Precise Controlling System at Assembly Winder”, organised by the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel (HKRITA) to support the scientific and technological research.

Dr. C.W. Kan is now Professor and Associate Dean (Strategic Planning and Development) in the School of Fashion and Textiles, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Dr. Kan graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic University with a BSc in Textile Chemistry. He gained his PhD degree from the same University. He had worked in private and public sectors in the area of textile evaluation and safety and health management for more than five years before joining the Institute. His main duties in the Institute are in the area of teaching colouration and finishing. Dr. Kan’s research interests are also in the area of (i) Textile coloration and finishing, (ii) Surface treatment of textile materials, (iii) Textile products evaluation, (iv) Textile testing instrumentation, (v) Safety and health management and (vi) Environmental management.

Dr. Kan holds the professional qualification of Chartered Colourist, Chartered Textile Technologist, Chartered Chemist and Chartered Safety and Health Practitioner; also Fellowship of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, Textile Institute and Royal Society of Chemistry, U.K. In addition, Dr. Kan is a member of Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and Hong Kong Institution of Textile and Apparel.

Recently, Dr. Kan published more than 180 SCI journal papers and 250 conference papers in his research area.