My presentation, based on my dissertation, will explore two key questions: What is a fashion archive in China? and How do Chinese fashion professionals understand history through their archives? Drawing from interviews with Shanghai-based fashion professionals (since 2000), I investigate how archives in the Chinese fashion system are being defined, created, and used to write their own history.

This work aligns with the call for innovation and imagination in recordkeeping by proposing an alternative, culturally specific methodology for archival development in the Chinese fashion industry. By challenging the dominance of Eurocentric frameworks, this research demonstrates how culturally specific approaches can enrich the global understanding of archives as dynamic and inclusive systems of recordkeeping.

The Buyer boutique Labelhood offers a compelling case study of these practices. Its digital archive was developed to document and celebrate its pivotal role in China's independent fashion scene. By preserving collections of digital photos of Labelhood fashion week, the archive serves not only as a cultural record but also as a tool for marketing and community engagement. This approach reflects Labelhood’s vision and creativity, as well as the power structure in Chinese fashion system, contributing to the broader discussion of what a "fashion archive" means in a fashion industry context. The Labelhood archive exemplifies how digital archival practices can shape cultural identity and adapt to the needs of a specific industry while challenging traditional notions of what constitutes an archive.

The UK has a long-standing heritage in developing videogames and participating in their surrounding culture. However, initiatives to archive around this medium can struggle with sustainability, as illustrated by the effort to establish a National Videogame Archive (NVA). After being set up within the National Science and Media Museum in 2008, it was effectively disbanded by 2014. Nevertheless, momentum around videogame archiving seems to be growing once again, as the British Film Institute’s Screen Culture 2033 strategy promises to create the infrastructure necessary for videogame preservation.

In support of these renewed efforts, this paper reconsiders the underpinning rationales for videogame archiving: Why should videogame materials be preserved? While previous writing has often highlighted the cultural value of games, much less has been published around users and use-cases of videogame archives. To explore further, the paper discusses use-cases within the videogame industry, examining The Rebellion Group, one of Europe's biggest independent studios, as a case study. This study was based on data collected from interviews with Rebellion’s employees, which were interpreted through reflexive thematic analysis. The findings not only highlight the commercial value of creative reuse but also draws on critical archival studies, to discuss how videogame archives might help address issues of underrepresentation and inequity within game’s media. Developing understanding of their use-value could incentivise the games industry to better support archival efforts, as well as strengthen wider advocacy, to make videogame archiving more sustainable.

Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (JDHT) and Simon Clark Limited (SCL) will discuss the challenges involved in ensuring key digital artefacts will be available for future generations and will show how photo-sensitive film offers a real alternative to more common data preservation methods.

JDHT wanted to ensure that important heritage documents and artefacts were kept safe for the future and discovered how photo-sensitive film technology offers a solution which surpasses many of the common data preservation formats.
The purpose of this presentation will be to look at how a physical and visual storage media has been re-purposed to act as a robust data storage medium and how key heritage information from one of the UK’s premium car manufacturers has been stored “forever”.
SCL will talk about the history of photo-sensitive film and will discuss how it compares with all current types of data preservation technology – Hard drives, LTO tapes etc.
JDHT will discuss their findings on the process of uploading data to be stored onto digital film, the normalisation solution (to convert data into standard non-proprietary formats) and how the film was then stored in the Arctic World Archive.
Digital Film will last at least 500 years in standard conditions but when stored in an optimum cold and dry environment can last in excess of 2000 years.
JDHT and SCL will talk about how the Arctic World Archive has become (alongside the Global Seed Vault) an important repository of important information available for future generations.