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Happy days are here again. This was the general consensus at APLF - Materials, Manufacturing & Technology (MM&T) this March, where confidence was high in supply and demand. Reported from fair grounds was the business was active and buyers were placing firm orders; additionally, MM&T saw a 9% increase in visitor attendance from 2009. As the most international trade event for leather and other materials, components and leather-related technology, the fair is indeed a veritable benchmark of the overall mood of the global industry and its performance during the year ahead. In 2009 the mere fact that leather and materials industries maintained a pulse was regarded with relief. Many feared the worse as the specters of economic gloom and doom advanced. Yet participants at the fair last year emerged with unexpected optimism: APLF - MM&T 2010 can be seen as building up that optimism into full-fledged confidence. < read more >
Leather expert, professor and long-time APLF - MM&T participant Mike Redwood shares his thoughts on developments in the global leather industry... Settling down on the ferry to China as so many visitors do after three days at APLF - MM&T one is able to recognise the reality of the trade going on both on the stands and in the corridors. The general mood was positive, and it was clear that yet again it was China to the rescue as it was products destined fo The Mainland domestic market that the full prices were achieved. Where the US and the EU were concerned compromise had to be reached, and generally speaking it was. The Domestic Chinese Market From the people on the ferry to those in the inland cities such as Chengdu, Chonqing and Xian it is apparent that wealth is rising fast and that the peculiar Chinese family structure pushes large amounts of that wealth into disposable income. For some ladies it is the Dragonfly brand that fits the poorer purse, for the slightly wealthier Daphne footwear fills the bill, while for a surprisingly large number the aspirational global and luxury brands are now within reach...read more 
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