ComplexCon Takes Hypebeast Mania From L.A. to Hong Kong — With Major Artists and Record Attendance

More than 7,000 miles from its birthplace in Long Beach, California, ComplexCon Hong Kong packed the halls of AsiaWorld-Expo with over 35,000 drop-thirsty hypebeasts, sneakerheads and K-fans on the hunt for the limited-edition Murakami x Casetify phone case, NewJeans T-shirt and Clot x Adidas Gazelles.

Designers, brands and executives watched and counted as this second outing for the event raked in more than $11 million over three days, with an average per-person spend of $320, moving beyond year one’s proof of concept and into a viable business model. Attendees came from Hong Kong, mainland China, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

Within the 150-brand ComplexMarketplace shopping exhibition, jacket designer Jeff Hamilton strolled from his booth to the NBA’s; futuristic artist Daniel Arsham, ComplexCon’s 2025 global artistic director, popped Moët & Chandon next to his sculptural rendition of the bottle; rapper Quavo, who headlined night one of the ComplexMusic concert series, signed his merch. More than 2,000 fans of K-pop girl group NewJeans, known as “bunnies,” lined up for limited-edition gear; actor-rapper-designer Edison Chen showcased a “Zone” of brands he curated; and Takashi Murakami dove into an inflatable swimming pool of his flower-design squishy balls. 

As part of the ComplexCon(versations) series, fashion designer Yoon Ambush and Japanese streetwear pioneer Fujiwara Hiroshi and others engaged in discussions and forecasts on the state of and future of fashion, art and global trends. 

The Family Style Food Festival, which has taken place in both ComplexCon’s Los Angeles and Las Vegas events, fed the hungry masses with bites from some of the city’s top restaurants.

After the Marketplace closed, the crowd shifted to the adjacent AsiaWorld Arena, the largest in Hong Kong, for ComplexLive concerts headlined by Quavo and Metro Boomin, who both made their China debut, as well as NewJeans, who announced their show would be their last as they settle a dispute with their label, HYBE’s ADOR.

Such is the spectacle at ComplexCon Hong Kong, the largest festival of its kind in the region, which intertwines Asian youth culture with the global streetwear scene to tap into an audience that craves owning what they see in their social media feeds. Founded in 2016, ComplexCon is an L.A.-born festival and exhibition that brings together style, sneakers, pop culture, music, art, food and ideas with exclusive releases from hype-worthy brands, immersive experiences, panel discussions and performances. In 2024, ComplexCon relocated to Las Vegas and featured Travis Scott as its creative director, with a takeover by his “Cactus Jack” universe of brands, artists and collaborations. 

In 2019, Bonnie Chan-Woo, CEO and founder of Complex China and organizer of ComplexCon Hong Kong, was approached with the opportunity to secure the licensing rights to ComplexCon, around the same time rap music and the street-culture scene were exploding in popularity with Gen Z in China, thanks to two reality shows, “The Rap of China” and “Rap Star.”

Digitally literate and relying heavily on online research and social media platforms for product research and shopping, the Gen Z population in Asia is estimated to be around 1.13 billion, making it the largest and most economically influential generation on the continent, with a spending power of over $140 billion. In China, Gen Z numbers 233 million, representing 16.5 percent of the country’s population and accounting for 13 percent of household expenditure, according to the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics. 

There are nearly 1.03 billion social media users in China, making its population the largest consumer of social media sites worldwide, per Meltwater, a media monitoring software company.  

Chan says ComplexCon’s audience is primarily using Weibo, TikTok and Little Red Book.

“We upgraded everything, the marketplace, the arena, the production,” she says, noting that ComplexCon Hong Kong grew by 30 percent in 2025. “Last year, they didn’t know what to expect. Now it’s competitive, the brands are watching each other to see who has the best concept, best execution, design, details and hardware. Then, there’s the software, meaning, how do they program? How are they announcing collabs? And how do they work with celebrities and influencers? Nothing you can get here is available anywhere else. You can’t get it in a shopping mall.”

This year, the NBA had one of the largest footprints within the marketplace, celebrating its return to China in 2025 with two preseason games in Macau between the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns, marking the first event of its kind since 2019. Adidas showed up big, partnering once again with Edison Chen’s Clot. Also, Jeff Staple introduced 3D printed sneakers with Zellerfeld and Feng Chen Wang teamed up with Converse. Taiwanese fashion brand GOOPiMade commanded the longest lines of the weekend inside their white-box space, completely closed off to spectators.

“These brands are shaping the conversation amongst the youth audience globally,” Chan says. “Hong Kong is a small place but a super connector.” Chan and team watch brands all year to “expertly curate” the right mix.“ “It takes a whole year of engagement and exchange to understand where the [brands] are, their social, what energy they’re bringing to the community, what they’re putting out in other shows or other spaces.”

Recently trending for his “Roman style” statue of philanthropist Priscilla Chan, commissioned by her husband, Mark Zuckerberg, Arsham created the ComplexCon Hotel merch-store concept, which featured a collaboration with Rimowa and a Carsham gas station pop-up. Presumably, variations on these exhibits will make their way to ComplexCon Las Vegas this fall.

Complex CEO Aaron Levant attended ComplexCon Hong Kong for the first time this year. In February 2024, NTWRK, a live-video shopping platform and marketplace, signed an agreement to acquire Complex. Levant, who co-founded NTWRK with Jamie Iovine and Gaston Dominguez-Letelier in 2018, co-created ComplexCon with Complex founder Marc Eckō in 2016.

Levant’s vision is “the best of culture, shoppable.” In advance of ComplexCon Hong Kong, Complex launched a sell-out MLB x Takashi Murakami collab at the L.A. Dodgers x Chicago Cubs games in Tokyo.

“Kids come here because it’s like their Instagram feed in real life,” he says. “Complex has been a global brand for a decade on the digital media side of the business. We’ve had partners in Australia and Europe and just signed a deal in the Middle East. This is the first international adaptation of the event, clearly it works, and we can take this format to new markets.” He sees an opportunity for ComplexCon to expand to mainland China, South Korea, Europe and beyond.

In the U.S., Levant says Complex is expanding into retail stores, with the Complex Shop already open in L.A. and set to open soon in New York City and internationally, featuring pop-ups from major artists such as Billie Eilish and Blackpink.

ComplexCon returns to the Las Vegas Convention Center on Oct. 25 and 26.