APLF: Gold Shines Through the Dust — Notes from the 2026 Asia Pacific Leather Fair

The annual Hong Kong Asia Pacific Leather Fair (APLF) concluded on March 14. Categories including leather, footwear, bags, leather machinery, chemicals, and hardware see little annual change in variety, yet quality improves steadily — a quiet evolution where less achieves more.

This year’s fair saw a rise in the proportion of fur leather and vegetable-tanned leather. JBS, the world’s largest wet-blue leather supplier, exhibited finished leather for the first time, signaling its expansion into finished leather products. The largest booth belonged to Longfeng Gelemai, which showcased its core fur leather alongside new offerings of shoe upper leather and sofa leather. Korean fashion bag brands drew crowds with their distinct styles and trendy color palettes.

Among leather machinery, no foreign manufacturers brought equipment to exhibit; only two domestic Chinese manufacturers — Jiangsu Liangang Leather Machinery and Nantong Sirui Machinery — displayed machinery. Nantong Sirui’s new leather stacking machine addresses issues like uneven stacking, curling, and wrinkling during downstream processes such as spraying and ironing. Its specially designed flattening mechanism solves these problems perfectly while meeting speed and efficiency requirements. The core technology is Sirui’s exclusive innovation, demonstrated multiple times with real leather on-site. Domestic and international customers and peers took photos and videos, which quickly spread in WeChat groups, achieving excellent promotion results. Chen Zhanguang, Vice Chairman of the China Leather Association, visited the booth. Company Chairman Zhang Yanan gave a detailed introduction to the exhibited equipment, and Chen praised Sirui’s continuous product innovation.

The progress of China’s leather machinery industry is evident to all, including foreign manufacturers. During the fair, foreign tanneries and Italian leather machinery peers actively visited the booth for exchanges, and multiple cooperation intentions were reached.

In a conversation with Mr. Xu of Yangbao Machinery, he clearly felt that the global economic downturn was strongly reflected at the fair.

The fair is always filled with familiar faces and brands, though their numbers dwindle each year. But natural selection prevails: only the true strong remain.

Gold shines through the dust, and heroes stand firm at the tide’s crest. Friends in the leather industry, keep striving — victory belongs to us!

Sirui’s stacking equipment for thin and soft leather, suitable for processes such as spraying and ironing.