Building upon 11 years of steady growth ACLE is widely recognised as the premier international leather event in China. That status has been, and remains, due to its success in introducing overseas companies to China's booming leather sector. There is no better exhibition for international companies seeking to enter the China market.
And what a market. China has weathered the global economic turbulence far better than most. It has moved up the rung to become the third largest economy in the world (the second largest by some criteria) and continues to show double digit growth figures.
China is a vast country geographically but, as with other large countries (the US is a prime example) markets vary enormously at a local level. The problem many would-be entrants face is where to start. Addressing that concern is, in large measure, the reason for ACLE’s success.
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Last year (2009) 1,050 exhibitors, from 36 countries and regions hosted 13,354 visitors, the vast majority from China, especially from the powerhouse region of greater Shanghai and adjacent provinces.
Those exhibitors were from places as diverse as France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, the UK and the US. There were 23 international group pavilions: including those from Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia and Spain, while Korea and Taiwan had two pavilions each.
The comprehensive coverage of goods and services offered by exhibitors across the full spectrum of leather manufacture has always been an important feature of the exhibition.
On display are raw materials (hides and skins, in semi- and finished-leather), man-made and synthetics, chemicals and dyes, components and accessories, tanning machinery, shoe machinery and technology and business services.
ACLE runs in conjunction with the China International Footwear Fair (CIFF) and Moda Shanghai, permitting visitors to move throughout the three exhibitions with the same badge.
China International Footwear Fair (CIFF) and Moda Shanghai
CIFF and Moda Shanghai are the platform for entry into China's booming footwear and fashion market. There are exciting opportunities for overseas footwear manufacturers, especially those operating within the middle-to-upper end of the market.
China, traditionally seen as a low-cost production base for goods destined for overseas markets is changing - fast.
Now, “the shoe is on the other foot” so to speak, with an explosion of demand within China's domestic retail markets for quality and fashionable footwear.
The trend is building because, although China’s manufacturing capacity remains vast, it has yet to convince its own domestic retail buyers of its products in terms of design, quality and cost.
CIFF provides footwear manufacturers the opportunity to get into the fast lane in this wide-open market.