Facing a shrinking leather shoe market, Quanzhou’s leather industry is actively looking for new development opportunities. To that end, recently, the heads of many enterprises and institutions met, including Xingye Leather, Feng’an Leather, Peak, Mulinsen, and the Quanzhou Environmental Protection Industry Association, and relevant functional departments.

Improve equipment technology and continuously achieve green upgrades

Industry insiders believe that the leather industry must adhere to the bottom line of environmental protection, innovate products, and expand application markets. Only in this way can new opportunities be found.

As an important part of Quanzhou’s textile, footwear and clothing industry chain, the leather industry has always played an indispensable role. Lin Yonghong, director of the Jinjiang Municipal Industry and Information Technology Bureau said that after stronger environmental protection requirements were rolled out in 2012, many companies were eliminated from the market. Most of the leather industries working today are all increasing investment in pollution control as well as upgrading technological innovations and processes.

Wu Huachun, chairman of Xingye Leather, said that leather production used to be polluting, but now companies have achieved wastewater separation and treatment. Chen Ronghui, chairman of Feng’an Leather Co., Ltd. and president of Quanzhou Leather Association, also said that the main reason for the overall stability of the leather industry is that it has withstood the test of environmental protection.

Industry insiders remind us that environmental protection requirements will continue to increase, so the future market growth in leather printing and dyeing will not be large. If companies want to continue increasing production without increasing pollution, they will need to continue speeding up upgrades in recycling such as using reclaimed water.

In the past ten years, the emergence of new shoe upper materials such as artificial leather and fly weave, sharply decreased the quantity of leather used in shoe uppers. Quanzhou leather companies are facing a market decline.

Wang Wenqi, president of the China Leather and Shoemaking Industry Research Institute (Jinjiang), believes that leather substitute materials have had a great impact on the genuine leather market and even confuse consumers who want to buy genuine leather products. Wang believes that the volume of footwear products is still very large and that the leather industry still needs to find ways to win back the shoe upper market. In fact, some companies are already doing this. “We now produce tens of millions of pairs of genuine leather shoes annually.” Zhang Xiaoqi, vice chairman of Mulinsen Group, said that genuine leather products are still very popular among young consumers. “The leather industry must move towards the high end and not follow the price competition route.”

Leather companies are also actively expanding demand for genuine leather in the new energy vehicle market. With the rise of the domestic electric vehicle industry, leather car interiors have grown significantly. Car seat cushions are one of the most important applications driving the growth of leather products.

“It’s not just genuine leather used in automobiles. There is still a lot of room for application in markets such as luggage and home furnishings,” said Nie Yumei, executive deputy secretary-general of the China Leather Association.

“Don’t worry about the industry being replaced. Demand will always exist. The most important thing is to make good products.” Chen Ronghui believes that thin, light, breathable, wear-resistant, and high-grade leather products are the next direction for product development.