COMESA-Leather and Leather Products Institute (COMESA-LLPI) participated in Leather Fair held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) from 25-27 march 2013. The Institute was represented by its Director Dr. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija. The Fair was organized by Materials, Manufacturing & Technology (MM&T) and Fashion Access.
At MM&T, a total of 1, 193 exhibitors from 53 countries have converged in Hong Kong to present their latest offerings. Of this total, 77% are involved in the leather business, with most dealing in semi-finished and finished leather while the rest are in hides and skins; exotic leather; equipment, chemicals and dyes for tanning, and leather trading. Exhibitors offering synthetic and natural materials as well as components and accessories for use in fashion products make up the balance.
Acknowledged as the most international and most influential leather industry event in Asia-Pacific, if not the world, MM&T has again drawn the top names in the business including some of the best and oldest tanneries form traditional leather-producing countries such as England, Italy, France, Spain, Germany and South America.
Many of the issues affecting the industry were discussed at the fair. Major issues discussed were the rising price of hides, the Chinese governmental threat to shut down tanneries that fail to comply with environmental guidelines, the banning of Brazilian hides by China due to Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), among others.
It is also during MM&T that the winners of the Tannery of the Year Award was given out to 15 deserving exhibitors at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. To celebrate the 10th year of the awards program, all the winners were presented with special golden versions of the traditional blue trophies.
For Fashion Access, 524 exhibitors from 22 countries are showcasing their Fall/Winter 2013- 2014 fashion collections. There were 129 first-time exhibitors from Asia and Europe, indicating the growing popularity of the fair that caters primarily to bag buyers. Close to half of the fair features contract manufacturers, mostly from China, as well as independent brands producing the full gamut of the bag styles.
Fashion Accessories and Small Leather goods are the second biggest sector at the show while footwear comes in third. Seen at the show is a wide variety of footwear styles from exhibitors from Italy, Spain, France, USA, China and other Asian countries.
