HK Magazine: How did you set foot into the fashion industry?
Arman Hung: I studied fashion design when I was in school, and after I graduated I worked as a designer. But as a staff designer, you have to work under a lot of constraints, such as considering the image of the company, and the main objective has to be profit-making. It was not what I wanted, so I quit and became an independent designer instead. For the time being, I’m also working at a clothing manufacturing company as my full-time job. I feel like the time has come, so I decided to spare a bit of my time and establish my own brand.

HK: What does A.M. stand for? 
AH: A.M. means Arman, which is my name. It is a very lazy idea, I just took out the A and the M, and made it the name of my brand. But hopefully when my brand is officially trademarked, I can add a little ‘r’ symbol in between the A and M, which should resemble “Arman” more.

HK: How did the idea for designing stockings come about?
AH: I have observed the local market for a while, and I found that there are very few designers—or perhaps none at all—who do logo designs on stockings. I wanted to do something unprecedented in Hong Kong, so I chose to work on stockings.

HK: Patterned pantyhose have become a hit in Japan. Do you get inspiration from Japan or elsewhere?
AH: No, it wasn’t Japan. I took some inspiration from brands in other foreign countries instead, such as Les Queues de Sardines from France. Even local celebrities like Sammi Cheng wear their stockings. So it led me to the direction of designing patterned pantyhose.

HK: Why do you insist that each pair of stockings is handmade?
AH: Actually, it wasn’t intentional—it was mainly because of technical constraints. Each pair of stockings has very little space for prints, and when you have to make sure each logo is printed precisely in the right position, it has to be printed bit by bit manually. If not, each pair’s printing may vary greatly. I do wish [we could use] mass production, but so far we don’t have the technology. 

HK: As a male designer, is it weird to design stockings for females?
AH: I don’t find it weird at all. Personally speaking, I wear leggings to go out. The only difference is that leggings only reach my ankles while stockings cover the entire foot! I really don’t find it a big deal.

HK: Do you have some kind of fetish for pantyhose?
AH: Not at all! Even the duo designers from Les Queues de Sardines are one male and one female. I don’t think that’s the case for them either. I’m simply inspired and see stockings as a piece of clothing for me to present my designs.

HK: What about the process of making a pair of stockings? How is it technically difficult?
AH: Unlike T-shirts and other garments, leggings don’t have a fixed plane for me to design on. I can only print on a ready-made stocking from the factories. Each time I have to apply a color onto the stockings, the factory workers have to stretch the garment for me and make sure it doesn’t move, because any slight movement will directly affect the print. So you could say I have to rely on the workers’ help a lot.

All A.M. products are available at www.noveltylane.com and www.facebook.com/A.M.Production.House.