Positive signs from APLF, despite a weak framework

 Let’s say right away that it was a good fair, in spite of the uncertainties dominating the geopolitical picture. The world’s leather industry met in Hong Kong for APLF 2025 (March 12-14), which has reconfirmed itself as Asia’s leading exhibition platform for the leather sector. This year there were 624 exhibitors from 40 countries and regions. Slightly less participation than in the past (it was 740 last year) but the fact remains that Hong Kong’s is the only fair where you can meet the world’s most important tanneries, mostly grouped in national collectives. As many as 24 national pavilions from Australia, Brazil, China (3), France (2), Germany, India (2), Italy (2), Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan (2), Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, USA and Uzbekistan.

The Leather section, the most significant at the fair, showcases leathers of all kinds, chemicals and tanning machinery. Rounding out the offerings of the fair as a whole, as always, are the Materials+ (featuring component companies, mostly from Asia) and Fashion Access (mainly leather goods and leather apparel companies) sections.

The organizers’ final press release speaks of more than 11,000 visitors from 68 countries and regions, representing various sectors, including tanning, fashion, footwear, leather goods and materials.

Among them, more than 100 buyers were selected and invited directly by the organizers. More than 800 business meetings were organized in the business matching area, offering high-level networking opportunities.

Italy at APLF 2025 was, as always, represented by two national pavilions: the one organized by UNIC-Italian Tanneries with 27 booths representing some 40 companies, and the one by ASSOMAC with 40 participants representing the tannery machinery and chemical auxiliary suppliers sector. Considering also the exhibitors present independently, as many as 110 Italian companies were present. The balance of their participation is marked by satisfaction, albeit with all due caution. Generally speaking, Italian tanners reported good interest from the visitors who attended, which gave signs of market awakening and confirmed the sensations recorded fifteen days earlier in Milan during Lineapelle.

Similarly, machine manufacturers and suppliers of chemical auxiliaries also noted a higher quality turnout than the previous year, which in some cases led to interesting business negotiations. Agostino Apolito, ASSOMAC general manager who accompanied the Italian companies, was also satisfied. “This year’s was our largest collective in recent years, and at the end of the fair we can say that the results proved us right. It was a good fair that confirmed the strategic role of this international hub capable of attracting visitors from all over Southeast Asia and representing the eastern counterbalance to our Simac Tanning Tech.” 

More mixed is the picture of Italian chemical auxiliary suppliers, who, more than on other occasions, complain about the price issue. Local competition has greatly increased and the price battle sometimes forces orders to be dropped. The decline in Chinese tanning production is being felt and the market seems smaller and smaller.

The Hong Kong fair was, as always, an opportunity to take the pulse of the Chinese market. According to Leather International’s Global Leather Market Report for 2024-2030, China remains the largest consumer of leather in Asia. Footwear will be the primary driver of growth, a sector fueled by an expanding middle class and increased domestic demand for sports and premium shoes. Between now and 2030, the footwear market will grow by 8 percent annually. A similar trend is expected for Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. Interesting suggestions that clash with a fact of reality: in the first half of 2024, light leather production decreased by 15 percent (official CLIA data).  Numbers that confirm a decline in demand for leather, despite the price of raw hides and skins at historic lows, in favor of alternative materials. The only exception was the production of automotive leather, which grew by 5 percent. Also complicating the picture is the impact that new U.S. tariffs will have on global trade.

Returning to the fair, the three-day event in Hong Kong was also animated by 25 events including seminars, conferences and various presentations that covered specific technical aspects or topics of general interest. Among the most interesting was the Global Footwear Executive Summit (GFES) organized in collaboration with UITIC and SATRA, which focused on the challenges and opportunities that the footwear industry must face, with sustainability and compliance as key topics of the forum. Equally important were the meetings of Leather Naturally and Is It Leather?, organizations committed to promoting leather as a natural and sustainable material that urged the sector to actively join the common effort to give more strength to the information campaigns underway.

 Also worthy of note is the LED Project, an APLF initiative now in its third edition, this year sponsored by the Italian Vegetable Tanned Leather Consortium, which invited six designers from China, Vietnam, Japan and Pakistan to collaborate and design the APLF collection with Tuscan vegetable tanned leather and to exhibit their creations at the fair.

APLF also saw the closing ceremony of the Design-A-Bag Online Competition 2025 as usual, organized with our Arsutoria School. The overall award was won by Eliane Yahari from Argentina with her original Yvoty Bag. The other two finalists were Uthra S Ganesh from India with the project Kolangal and Jiang Si Mi from China with her DoDo Bag.

The next appointment with the Hong Kong fair has already been scheduled: APLF 2026 will be held from March 12th to 14th. Among the new features for next year, it has been leaked that there will be a reorganization of the spaces with the return of the Leather section to Level 1 of the Convention Center and the transfer of the Materials+ and Fashion Access sections to the second level, as it was in 2019.