The 16thChina (Shiling) Leather and Products Fair kicked off on December 25, 2020 at the Fashion Expo Center in R&F Global Merchandise City. This is a fashion feast that integrates exhibition of China's top leather and products, professional competitions, fashion releases, livestreaming of opening ceremony, cloud exhibition halls, and influencer marketing among many other activities.

　　The event was co-hosted by the China Light Industry Council, China Leather Industry Association, and China Plastic Processing Industry Association; organized by Guangzhou Huadu District Federation of Industry and Commerce, and R&F Global Merchandise City; and supported by Guangzhou Huadu District People’s Government, and the People's Government of Shiling Town. Presented at the event were leaders and guests from China Light Industry Council, China Leather Industry Association, and China Plastic Processing Industry Association and other relevant national, provincial, municipal, and district entities, leaders and guests from R&F Group and R&F Global Merchandise City, experts and scholars from related institutions and schools, representatives of leather goods companies, and news media reporters.

　　Leaving behind the brilliance of 17 years, the leather capital in South China is moving to a new brilliant chapter. The event this year themed on the topic of "Innovation Leads the Development of China's Leather and Products Industry in the New Era" and followed the development concepts of "Transformation, Upgrading, Innovation and Development". Activities included in the event were: Award Ceremony and Award-winning designs Show of the 20th (2020) China International Competition for Bag Design, unveiling ceremony for the pilot project of digital transformation of Guangdong Shiling luggage & leather goods industrial cluster, “For Dual Circulation Economy” signing ceremony between supply chain and procurement channel of leather goods industry at R&F Global Merchandise City, the opening ceremony of the 16th China (Shiling) Leather and Products Fair, and others.

　　Transformation, upgrading, innovation and development

　　Currently, China's leather and leather goods industry is leading lead with wide margin in the world in terms of cost, quality, and R&D; however, there are also potential risks, particularly when the impact of Covid-19 on overseas markets is far from over. What is more, the vigorous development of a new wave of technological revolution, in particular the widespread application of artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things, has had a profound impact on the digital transformation of the leather and leather goods industry, posing huge challenges. Shiling Town in Huadu District is the first in China to formulate a digital transformation plan for leather and luggage industry cluster. By digitizing and putting online all elements of the cluster, and building industry chain-coordinated manufacturing platforms, shared manufacturing centers and complete production services to achieve more efficient and precise sharing and collaboration, as well as combination of software and hardware, and regional operations, the District managed to create a new model for industry upgrading in the new era of digital economy.

　　Faced with the unprecedented impacts and challenges brought by Covid-19 on Shiling's leather industry, the government, industry platforms, and enterprises have all endeavored to look for breakthroughs and transformation and upgrading. Given this backdrop, this year's China (Shiling) Leather and Products Fair has unusual significance. The Fair has demonstrated many breakthroughs and innovations both in content and form: cloud carnival of brands, end-of-year marketing by top-tier influencers, big shots discussion of industry transformation and upgrading, talks among industry heavyweights, and the newly created "Genuine Leather Mark Cup" contest,...This is really a year-end ceremony of the fashion industry and a carnival of trade and exhibition.

　　New opportunities for market purchase

　　An essential piece of the leather festival

　　With the support of the government, heavyweights of the industry were organized to discuss issues facing Shiling Town leather industry, such as shifting export for domestic sale, expanding market for products, and increasing product added value, in order to promote the transformation and upgrading of the industry. The Fair brought together more than 1,000 products in eight categories, including leather goods, bags and luggage, customized gifts, leather shoes, leather materials; and 1000 plus professional buyers from home and abroad were invited to purchase online, in particular, professional buyers from key second-and third-tier wholesale markets in Yiwu, Chongqing, Zhuzhou, Liaoning, Shandong, Xi'an, Guangdong, terminal stores, and from specialty and multi-brands stores conducted online appointments for consultation and supply-procurement matching. The biggest innovation of this year's Fair was the Online Cloud Exhibition, in which various methods, such as online exhibition booths, exhibition halls, instant communication, livestreaming sale, and scheduled 1 on 1 online negotiation, were applied to break space and time barriers to create online communication channels for suppliers and buyers of the leather industry.

　　By Making full use of advantages offered by such policies as "market purchase trade pilot project" and "cross-border e-commerce comprehensive pilot zone", Huadu Shiling has built "cloud platforms" and e-commerce livestreaming bases to accelerate digital transformation and upgrading of the industry cluster, to effectively overcome the adverse effects of Covid-19, and to make greater contributions to the rejuvenation of the ancient city of Guangzhou, and the cause of "four new highlights". As a central part of the 16thChina (Shiling) Leather and Products Fair, the Online Cloud Showroom, with its functions of 360° product display, and online business connection, not only enabled real-time procurement, but also online display of products for up to 6 months in the Showroom. And multiple influencer marketing activities in 3 days were a new highlight of the Fair.

　　Precise docking of business opportunities: 1000+ buyers gathered at Cloud Expo. Over 1,000 buyers bought on the cloud, including well-known leather brand owners at home and abroad, buyers for second-and third-tiered professional wholesale markets, consortium buyers of garments and accessories, and buyers specially invited by authoritative business associations of the industry (China National Textile And Apparel Council, China Leather Industry Association, China National Garment Association, Guangdong Garment Association, and Guangdong Leather Industry Association, etc. ) . More than 50 merchants, including some top-tiered leather companies in Shiling Town, China's leather goods capital, and some of the companies in R&F Global Merchandise City, were invited to participate in the Cloud Expo and displayed more than 1,000 products. With the help of top influencers in livestreaming marketing, exceeding the 100 million sales mark is not a daydream. From December 25th to 27th, a series of activities were held for three consecutive days, including livestreaming marketing by popular Internet celebrities, limited purchases of new products, special offers of manufacturers, and lucky draws.

　　Wonderful forum on

　　transition and upgrading

　　One of the activities held at the opening ceremony was an in-depth talk among industry heavyweights about promotion of the industry upgrading. In the two rounds of talk, heavyweights of China's leather industry tried to given an in-depth discussion of how companies could transform and upgrade under the pandemic, and brainstormed for new ideas for the development of traditional luggage industry. The forum invited authoritative guests to shed light on "how companies could transform and upgrade under the pandemic, and new ideas for the development of traditional luggage industry”. For traditional enterprises, the question is how to seize the opportunity of "Internet +", emerge from the pandemic successfully, actively respond to the impact of the pandemic, boost confidence in development, further guide the industry to move in the direction of high-end, fashion, and branding, boost tradition industrial transformation and upgrading, promote high-quality economic development, and further enhance the reputation of Huadu Shiling as the "Leather Capital of China", as well as its voice in the industry and influence in the world.

　　"Genuine Leather Mark Cup" creative design and fashion for the world

　　As a professional competition designed to discover design talents in the leather industry, the "Genuine Leather Mark Cup” this year centered on the theme of "Awakening" and selected good works with unique creativity, ingenuity, and market potentials. The award ceremony of the 2020 "Genuine Leather Mark Cup" China International Competition for Bag Design and the 2020 "Genuine Leather Mark Cup" show were held at the opening ceremony, which was a testimony to the birth of new forces in the industry.

　　On the stage set up by the Leather Fair, the show of winning designs of the Competition demonstrated the high level and high-end of the Competition, and highlighted the innovative thinking and design ability of luggage leather designers. The Competition aroused great attention and extensive participation in the professional field of luggage and leather goods. Since the start of the final, a total of 763 design works were submitted by schools, such as Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Donghua University, Guangzhou Panyu Polytechnic, Shanghai Art & Design Academy, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, luggage and leather goods companies home and abroad, design institutions, and independent designers.

　　From September 29thto October 5th, the organizing committee of the Competition made public the final results on designated websites and WeChat public accounts to ensure supervision of all sectors of society. And finally, awards were given to 31 contestants in the professional group; 22 in the college and institution group; there were also 25 individual awards and 1 school-enterprise cooperation award.