Leather Industry: China Is Still At The Bottom Of The Industrial Chain.

Jiaxing, Zhejiang, Chong Fu, a major leather industry in China, reported that their orders were seriously insufficient this year.

Since 2013, the international leather market is getting worse and worse.

European and American economies are not good enough to buy luxury goods, especially handbags, shoes and other leather goods.

China's exports of leather have also decreased.

More than that, the listed company, Haining Leather City, wrote in the 2015 annual report that the price of raw materials is down, inventory is backlog, and environmental pressure is increasing.

Leather enterprises are losing profits.

China is an important player in the global leather industry. China imports and exports leather in large quantities.

China is also an important foundry base for light luxury leather goods such as COACH and MichaelKors.

Even advanced brands like Prada also have leather goods produced in China.

But China is still at the bottom of this industry chain.

In September this year, a leather exhibition will be held in Shanghai to discuss what leather enterprises should do in the face of internal and external troubles, especially the increasingly severe environmental regulations.

In recent years, some small leather factories have been closed down in China.

Leather goods such as COACH in China, are leather materials purchased in China? Mike, a leather agent factory in Guangdong, told me that top brands do not manufacture leather goods in China at all, and that they are mainly international second-class brands and light luxury brands in China.

The leather they use usually produces leather embryos in the United States and Australia, and goes to some leather factories in China to do "post processing" before entering the factory.

After processing plant will be several layers of cattle skin, close to the hair is the first layer, relatively tight, two slightly inferior, often made of suede, three layers again.

Businessmen often boast of "cowhide".

In China's Shandong, Henan and other places, some skin embryos are also produced, but generally speaking, there are no mature large farms in mainland China, and there are not enough suitable cattle to be raised.

The breed of Chinese cattle is not as large as that of the United States, and the size of the American ox is large, and the area of the skin embryo is large. It is used for making leather goods. It is obvious that the large area of the cowhide is easier to cut and can achieve better creative design.

Those big cattle were raised, slaughtered, and made into skin embryos on large farms in the United States and Australia, and then exported to all parts of the world, especially in South Korea and Thailand.

India and Pakistan also produce some skin embryos, but the quality is poor and the price is low.

"Korea's leather and embryo import enterprises are firmly clumping together, and they can naturally get lower prices by collectively cooperating with leather manufacturers.

And China's leather factory is very decentralized, there is no effective organization, only one family and the other party to talk about the price, the price is a loss.

Mike said.

The above is about the leather goods brands which are relatively close to the people. In the field of top brands, it is another system. Chinese companies can hardly get involved.

The core of the top leather and leather business is in Europe, especially in Italy.

Some factories have lasted for half a century, and have inherited several generations. Some of them will finish all the processes of leather. After they are finished, they can be cut and sutured.

Dong Haoze, founder of ZESH, who has been in the handbag industry for many years, has revealed that China has not yet been able to produce top-grade leather.

The fabric is extensive and profound. Some luxury brands rely on fabrics to consolidate their uniqueness.

They have an exclusive relationship with leather manufacturers, so that competitors can not buy high-quality leather.

In a leather factory in Italy, Dong Haoze heard that one kind of skin is dedicated to Celine, and the brand is involved in the whole process from raw material creativity, development to production.

Such leather is extremely valuable. Manufacturers will only sell them to customers who are strong and trust each other.

In Europe, there is a company you may have heard of. Denmark's ECCO - not shoes? Yes, they are also the most powerful in the world.

One of the business departments is called ECCOLeather.

They customize raw materials for leather goods brands, and the list of customers is gorgeous.

If you notice a time ago, Wang Shi's expensive mobile phone 8848, the leather part of this phone, is known as this.

Provided.

They own their farms, and have built their own leather factories in Europe and Asia.

Top brands attach great importance to leather suppliers, and suppliers' products are not fully collected.

Li Wei Shen, the founder of JKLee shoes in Guangdong, China, said that the best leather in the world is made in Italy. The chamber of Commerce gives leather grades, A, B, C and so on. Leather from the same cow will also be listed in different grades because of different parts.

Usually, the skin on the back of the cow is the most compact and optimal, while the cow's belly is the best.

It is relatively soft and low in rank.

The skin of the cow neck is wrinkled. If the proportion of the neck skin is larger, the grade will be lower.

LV brand like this is only a grade leather, and never B.

However, cows have their backs and have their belly. How to deal with B grade and C grade leather? They are sold to China for the so-called two or three line brand.

A ridiculous fact is that both the international light luxury brands and some Chinese brands that are not very popular will usually spend too much energy on pursuing A-grade leather.

In China, those who are really crazy about A-grade leather are those cottage factories that are "super goods".

They tried every means to make the handbag details close to true love horse, so that they could sell high prices, and Shanzhai factories also had a good profit.

It is rumored in the industry that when a top French leather brand makes a handbag, it only takes the best quality part of the cowhide, cutting out the shape needed by the handbag, and the remaining large area of leather is abandoned.

Some factories are scramble for this part of leather, because it has super high quality, but a little bit worse.

Inside the brand, there were employees selling the scrap materials and selling them to China.

Both Chanel and Hermes, LVMH, have acquired some of their French leather factories in recent years.

Hermes even raised crocodiles in Australia, raising cattle in countries such as Luxemburg, France and the United States.