After a gap of three years since its last edition in Hong Kong in 2019, the world’s leading and most international trade fair for the leather industry, APLF, is set to return as a Special Edition in Dubai, UAE, to be held at the Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC) from 30 March – 1 April 2022.
Halls 1 – 5 of the DWTC will house the event and all three APLF fairs – Leather, Materials+ and Fashion Access – will take place concurrently covering the global supply chain of the leather, tanning and manufacturing industry.
Exhibitor and Visitor Configuration
The Organisers estimate approximately 500 exhibiting companies occupying some 20,000 square meters of exhibition space with 15 national pavilions from Brazil, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey and USA.
Buyer Promotions
In conjunction with our six Informa regional offices in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the Organisers are working to attract some 8,000 international buyers including hosted buyers from Russia, India, France, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey. Thus, the mix of buyers will be different from a regular Hong Kong event but open up new opportunities from nearby African and Middle Eastern countries for participating companies looking to expand their base of international buyers.
With a view to strengthening our visitor promotion campaign, the APLF team is working closely with national leather, footwear and retail associations from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Romania, Russia as well as those from Europe and Africa to organise buying groups to APLF Dubai.
Additionally, APLF will work with the Dubai Chamber to promote Dubai Expo 2020 and APLF Dubai. Their VIP programme will give APLF’s buyers and exhibitors incentive to visit World Expo and attend business matching meetings during the fair.
Onsite Events
To maintain APLF’s character as an integral event – that is a combination of conferences, seminars, and trade fair – the following events will be held during APLF Dubai:
- Future Trends in a Post-Covid Leather Industry – 29 March (PM)
Co-organised with International Leather Maker, topics include tanning with bio-based chemicals, deforestation, biodegradability of leather, image of leather and the consumer, animal welfare and reducing the carbon footprint of leather.
- Leather Naturally Breakfast meeting – 31 March (AM)
Leather Naturally will give an update about LN and Metcha Campaign
- Global Footwear Executive Summit – 31 March (PM)
With the support from APPICAPS, topics will include how digital technology will impact design, manufacturing, logistics and sales of footwear. Why prices of footwear have risen during the pandemic and finally the hot topic of the moment – sustainability – an issue that concerns all major brands, marketing and consumers in the 21 century.
More detailed information will be provided on these events very shortly.
Materials and Fashion Trends Space
- Display of the most updated Spring-Summer 2023 materials and colour trends
- Graphic of the most updated Fall-winter 2022-23 fashion trends
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