The "Short Leg" Design Of China'S Leather Industry Has Become A Stumbling Block For Development

Statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics show that in the first half of this year, China's leather processing trade exports declined significantly. The leather industry, which focuses on processing trade, has lost its cost advantage in the past. With the increasing technical barriers to trade in EU and other countries and regions, the design of "short legs" has become a stumbling block to the development of the industry. Facing the current situation, the leather industry has no choice but to tackle the design difficulties. Recently, the "Yiming Cup" luggage, leather and shoemaking grand prize, sponsored by Zhejiang Leather Industry Association and co organized by Yiwu Economic Development Bureau and relevant enterprises, was unveiled. This important platform for Zhejiang leather industry outstanding design talents to display their talents every year has not only recruited talents for many enterprises, but also applied many creative designs, accelerating the pace of overall technological innovation in the industry. At present, creative designs with unique and high-tech content in China's leather industry are constantly emerging. The industrialization of these designs makes leather enterprises relying solely on OEM processing trade expect energy to be reactivated. Design weakness The reporter learned from Zhejiang Leather Industry Association that more than 70 shoemaking enterprises have closed down in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, where the domestic leather industry has developed rapidly. For a long time in the past, most of the export business of Wenzhou footwear industry was processing trade, in which imitation, processing and copying were the main. Some enterprises with technical strength will improve according to customer requirements after receiving samples, and place orders for production after customer confirmation. Few enterprises actively promote their products to the international market through professional design. In recent years, as many countries have successively implemented anti-dumping against Chinese shoes, the profit of the leather industry has been squeezed again and again. In the initial stage of capital accumulation, technology accumulation and management experience accumulation, vigorously developing the processing trade of "three processing and one compensation" is a shortcut to rapidly expand the domestic leather industry. However, as creative design has become a competitive tool in globalization, the competitive advantage of the domestic leather industry has gradually lost. The head of a shoe processing enterprise in Wenzhou calculated an account for the reporter: a pair of leather shoes originally sold for $5, which could be exchanged for more than 40 yuan, of which the profit was 4 yuan; After the exchange rate of RMB against the US dollar dropped below 7 yuan, only 35 yuan can be sold, and the profit of 4 yuan is gone. Because of this, many enterprises should either close down or give up processing trade. However, in Italy, which is also famous for shoemaking, the average export price of the shoemaking industry is 27.94 euros per pair, including 35.16 euros per pair for leather shoes and 12.0 euros per pair for synthetic leather shoes. Focusing on independent design, combining high technology with manufacturing process, and applying it to products are the key to the success of Italian shoes - according to industry insiders. Gold Rushing in Grand Prix Mo Hanyi, Director General of the World Leather Chemical Industry Association, told the reporter that if leather products want to enter the international market, they must pay attention to product design. Product innovation is the focus of competition, and they cannot just pursue the style of other countries' brands. After being hit hard, in recent years, domestic leather enterprises have gradually realized that design is an important value source of products and a sharp weapon in price competition. This has enabled the domestic leather industry to embark on the innovative road of relying on design to obtain product profits. It has become a shortcut for many enterprises to recruit talents and obtain creative design through the design grand prix. Hengda Group has gained a lot for this. The products designed by Shan Cunli, the general manager of the company, won the first prize of women's shoes and women's boots respectively in the "Leather Logo Cup" National Leather Shoes Design Competition; The employees of the Technical Center won the second place in the first leather shoe sewing skills contest in Shandong Province; Four products won the first and second prizes of the 2006 National Leather Shoe Design Grand Prix in the Leather Logo Cup. At the same time, three scientific and technological achievements, including leather seamless adhesive shoes, have been recognized as "Qingdao high-tech products" by Qingdao. Haining China Leather City, known as the largest leather city in Asia, has also held design competition awards for many times in the past two years, which not only promoted the overall design level of Haining leather industry, but also promoted the technological progress of the industry. Golden Monkey Group will win the first prize of design in the "China Leather Logo Cup" leather design contest held by China Leather Association every year. In addition, many leather product manufacturers, such as Li Ning, Yiming, and Yierkang, have held product design contests to attract talents, apply new designs and technologies to their products, and enhance their competitiveness.   Expect the energy to be reactivated In Shiling, Guangdong, which ranks first in leather goods and leather trading volume in China, its leather products are exported to 25 provinces, cities, autonomous regions, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas, with an annual output value of 10 billion yuan. In Europe, more than 50%% of the products in the middle and low grade leather luggage market are "made in Shiling". For many years, these leather cases and bags exported to all parts of the world have not been able to increase their prices due to lack of independent design and imitation of foreign product styles. In recent two years, Shiling leather industry is undergoing changes. In order to complete the transformation of the industry, Shiling has set up the first domestic township level industrial research institution - Guangzhou Suopai Leather Industry Development Research Institute, which aims to gather superior talents and achieve a new round of industrial upgrading and technological leap by integrating global leather and leather resources; The cooperation with the leather testing agency of France CTC Group is also an important measure for Shiling to speed up its international integration. Many enterprises are also increasing their investment in product design. It is reported that Huadu Feigao Luggage Co., Ltd., one of the top 12 leather goods companies in China, spends 30% of its annual profits on product design every year. The intensive cultivation of leather industry in design has yielded little results. In 2007 alone, Aokang Group applied for up to 50 product technology patents, including invention, utility model and appearance design. These technology patents have been used in Aokang's functional shoes such as etiquette shoes for the 2008 Olympic Games, GPRS positioning shoes, breathing shoes, shock absorption shoes, and retractable high-heeled shoes. The leather seamless bonding technology of Hengda Group has won the Science and Technology Invention Award of China Light Industry Federation. After being popularized and used nationwide, this technology will save 1.53 billion square feet of leather materials for the country every year, with an annual savings of about 38.25 billion yuan. With the advent of more and more self-designed and self-developed products, people expect the energy of China's leather industry to be reactivated.