Top Ten News Releases of China’s Leather Industry in 2025
“The world’s first international standard for the determination of organic solvents in footwear, led by China, has been officially released”, “The EU has become the largest export market for China’s leather industry products”, “The leather industry jointly advocates to resist ‘involution'”… Recently, the China Leather Association released the “Top Ten News Stories of the Chinese Leather Industry in 2025”, comprehensively outlining the development trajectory of China’s leather industry in transformation and innovation, from standard leadership, market structure to industry ecology.
I. The Proportion of China’s Leather Industry Exports to the US Continues to Decline, and Significant Changes Occur in the Global Market Structure
Data from January to November 2025 shows that the US accounted for 15.2% of the export value of China’s leather industry products, lower than the EU (18.5%) and ASEAN (15.6%), dropping to third place. This is the first time such a situation has occurred since the reform and opening up. Over the past decade, the EU has generally maintained its second-place position in terms of market share. In 2025, it replaced the US to take the top spot. The market share of ASEAN increased from 8.8% in 2015 to 15.6% from January to November 2025, becoming the fastest-growing regional market. The export market structure of China’s leather industry is undergoing profound structural adjustments. Faced with this historic turning point, the Chinese leather industry must re-examine its global market layout strategy.
II. Two Regional Brands and Two Enterprises in the Leather Industry Receive the First Batch of China’s Well-known Consumer Brands Titles
On April 3, 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the first batch of China’s well-known consumer brands. The leather industry performed outstandingly, with “Putian Shoes” and “Tong’erbao Fur” successfully being selected as regional brand well-known consumer brands. “Anli” (Anhui Anli Material Technology Co., Ltd.) was awarded the title of “Era Excellent Product” for enterprise brand well-known consumer brands, and Anhui Kairun Co., Ltd. (brand Guildford) won the title of “Growing Enterprise of China’s Well-known Consumer Brands”. The release of this list is a key measure by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to promote the construction of China’s well-known consumer brand formation. It is deeply in line with the key task in the 2025 government work report of “vigorously boosting consumption and comprehensively expanding domestic demand,” injecting new impetus into the high-quality development of the consumer goods industry.
III. The First Global International Standard for the Determination of Organic Solvents in Footwear, Led by China, is Officially Released
On May 21, 2025, the international standard “Footwear – Limited substances present in footwear and footwear components – Determination of certain organic solvents” (ISO 20686∶2025), led by China, was officially approved and released by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This standard adopts gas chromatography-mass spectrometry technology and can simultaneously and accurately detect the residues of 15 common toxic organic solvents, significantly increasing the number of substances detected and improving detection efficiency. It marks that China has transformed from a “follower” to a “leader” in the field of footwear organic solvent detection standards, demonstrating that China’s scientific and technological strength in footwear detection has been internationally recognized. By providing a unified global standard for footwear safety control, China can effectively reduce technical trade barriers and help Chinese footwear products enter the international market more smoothly. The release of this standard is not only a milestone in China’s footwear standardization work but also establishes China’s technological leadership in the international market.
IV. After 31 Years of Implementation, the Genuine Leather Mark is Renewed and Revised, and the “Five New” Concept Boosts New Consumption
On June 25, 2025, the China Leather Industry Association held a press conference in Beijing to officially release and launch the new genuine leather mark. As an incubator and booster for brands in the leather industry, the genuine leather mark, which has been in implementation for 31 years, has set sail with a new look and proposed for the first time the new connotation of “natural, comfortable, and enduring.” Based on the group standards “Management Specifications for Genuine Leather Mark Products” and “Recognition Management Specifications for Ecological Genuine Leather (Fur) with the Genuine Leather Mark,” the new mark adopts a hierarchical management system of general marks and ecological leather product marks. With the “five new” concepts of “new connotation, new empowerment, new traceability, new design, and new promotion,” it responds to consumers’ new demands for transparency of consumption information, traceability, and green ecology, and promotes the transformation of the leather industry towards a low-carbon and green development model.
V. The First National Leather Industry Digital Transformation and Upgrading Conference is Held, Sounding the Horn for a New Development Stage of Digitalization in the Leather Industry
On July 30, 2025, the first national leather industry digital transformation and upgrading conference was held in Guangdong. With the theme of “Digital Empowerment, Leather Ushering in a New Journey,” the conference was deeply in line with the requirements of the “2025 Digital Economy Development Work Points” and the “Light Industry Digital Transformation Implementation Plan.” The conference reached an industry consensus on making a leap from the “world’s leather factory” to the “global leather digital hub,” laying the foundation for cultivating “chain leader” enterprises with international competitiveness and building a collaborative development model among large, medium, and small enterprises. The holding of this conference is a in-depth exploration and discussion of digital development in the industry, sounding the horn for China’s leather industry to enter a new development stage characterized by digitalization and platformization, and demonstrating the industry’s firm determination and innovative practices in embracing digitalization.
VI. The 22nd International Footwear Technology Conference is Held in Shanghai, with AI Empowering High-quality Development of the Industry
From August 31 to September 3, 2025, the 22nd International Footwear Technology Conference (UITIC), the highest-level event in the international footwear industry, was held in Shanghai. More than 300 representatives from the industrial chains of 14 countries and regions, including China, Italy, Portugal, France, Spain, and the UK, gathered to explore new development paths and inject strong impetus into the global footwear industry. With the core theme of “Footwear Competitiveness and Sustainable Development in the AI Era,” the conference focused on topics such as material and product innovation, sustainability and competitiveness enhancement, and intelligence and AI empowerment, discussing the innovations and opportunities brought by the deep integration of AI technology into the entire footwear manufacturing chain.
VII. Dual Exhibitions in Tandem Form an Industry-scale Full Industrial Chain Exhibition Pattern
From September 3 to 5, 2025, the China International Leather Exhibition (ACLE) and the “Modern China” International Footwear, Bags, and Apparel Fashion Exhibition (MODA CHINA) were jointly held for the first time at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, building the world’s largest full industrial chain exhibition platform for the leather industry. The “dual exhibitions in tandem” in the leather industry is in line with the national requirement of building a new development pattern. It not only activates domestic consumption upgrade demands and unblocks the domestic circulation through full industrial chain displays but also builds a bridge for global resource docking, helping to promote the mutual reinforcement of domestic and international dual circulations. The dual exhibitions in tandem inject strong impetus into the industry’s high-quality development.
VIII. Wanhua Chemical and Anta Sports Win the China Quality Award and Nomination Awards, Setting an Example for Quality Improvement in the Industry
On September 17, 2025, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced the award decisions of the fifth China Quality Award. Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. and Anta Sports Products Group Co., Ltd., two leading enterprises in the leather industry, received the honor. As the highest honor in China’s quality management field, the China Quality Award not only represents authoritative recognition of the enterprises’ quality management achievements but also leads the entire industry to carry forward the quality spirit of striving for excellence, promoting the implementation of the quality powerhouse construction in the leather industry.
IX. The Tanning Industry Issues a Joint Initiative to Resist “Involution” and Reshape a Healthy Competitive Ecosystem in the Industry
On October 26, 2025, the China Leather Industry Association issued the “Initiative on Resisting ‘Involutionary’ Competition and Promoting High-quality Development of the Tanning Industry.” In recent years, problems such as low-price and disorderly competition and an increase in low-quality products have severely squeezed enterprise profits, restricted industrial innovation vitality, affected the market image of leather products, and harmed the long-term interests of the industry. Against this background, the initiative calls on the entire industry to adhere to the quality bottom line and shift from “irrational price competition” to “rational value competition.” At the same time, it encourages increasing R&D investment and promoting product upgrades towards quality, personalization, fashion, greenness, and functionality.
X. The Cross-border E-commerce in the Leather Industry Develops Rapidly, Opening Up New Paths for Going Global and Achieving Practical Results
In 2025, faced with the dual pressures of intensifying global trade barriers and fierce international market competition, various characteristic regions in China’s leather industry, with footwear and bags as the core products, actively promoted cross-border e-commerce layouts. Through diversified measures such as overseas warehouse construction and regional industrial collaboration, they successfully opened up new paths for going global. For example, Baigou New City accelerated the layout of overseas warehouses and the construction of cross-border channels, establishing 20 overseas warehouses in more than 10 countries, including the Philippines, the US, the UAE, Germany, Italy, and India. It also innovatively launched the “market procurement + automobile transportation” cross-border e-commerce model, enabling direct delivery of goods from the place of origin to overseas terminal markets. At the same time, it continued to deepen the integrated development model of “market procurement + cross-border e-commerce.” The Putian footwear industry relied on the cross-border e-commerce cloud industrial park, fully utilized leading cross-border e-commerce platforms in the world, and vigorously expanded markets in Europe, the US, and countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. Through the cross-border e-commerce model, China’s leather industry precisely meets global consumption demands and continuously builds a new globalization pattern for going global.
