APLF - MM&T is held annually in Hong Kong, the 2010 event runs March 29 – 31. With 26 years experience under its belt, the show is generally recognised as the premiere international leather & materials and components event in Asia.
In 2009, despite industry-wide concern about the global economy, the positive mood at the Hong Kong exhibition laid many of those concerns to rest. Leather remained in high demand, especially for the high-end and luxury markets.
Leather can be used to great effect when combined with other materials. This ensures its continued popularity with fashion designers and high street shoppers. Increasingly, the market is combining leather with the fast growing high-performance fabric sector. Longchamp and Gucci are just two examples where this wedding of leather and other top-end fabrics is proving popular.
Visitors to APLF - MM&T will be able to view and evaluate these high-performance fabrics alongside leather.
All this and more, much more, can be seen at APLF - MM&T. The event covers the entire spectrum of leather making: raw-, semi- and finished hides and skins, dyes and chemicals, tannery machinery, CAD/CAM, and support services.
The fair allows also for invaluable face-to-face discussion, keeping ahead of new innovation, developments and market intelligence, networking, adding contacts and discovering new potential customers and suppliers.
Building on the up-beat mood, extra exhibition space has been made available to accommodate many previous exhibitors demanding more space this year and 100+ first-time exhibitors, almost doubling 2009. More space has been booked in several national pavilions: with that of Turkey increased by over 20%, and larger pavilions for Korea, Pakistan, Portugal (and China, located in the Synthetic Material Section).
To date, the Raw Materials and Finished Leather sections remain the largest group, with 61% of the total fair space which includes an 8.4% increase. Tanning Machinery is up over 20% with 44 Tanning Machine suppliers from China, France, Germany, Italy, Korea and Turkey.
Many exhibitors have booked larger booths than before. The move to increased stand size made it necessary for an expansion into Hall 3F (shared with concurrent finished products fair, Fashion Access).
Visitor numbers are looking good with promising visitor pre-registration numbers including buyers from companies such as Coach, Bally, Ecco, K-Swiss, Li & Fung, Hugo Boss, Adidas, Bauhaus, Debenhams, Diesel, Lane Crawford, LVMH, Marks & Spencer, Calvin Klein, Armani, Celine, Kwanpen, H&M, Clarks, Lacoste, Cole Haan, New Balance, Li-Ning, Aokang, Levi Strauss, and Next.
These are just a few of the well-known brands. Hidden away in the lists are the companies poised to be the Coach or Bally of tomorrow.
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
