On November 21, 2025, the 2025 Annual Meeting of the Young Entrepreneurs Working Committee of the China Leather Industry Association was held in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province. Hosted by the China Leather Industry Association and organized by Xingye Technology Co., Ltd., the meeting brought together association leaders, management experts, and over forty young entrepreneurs from the industry to discuss the path of industry transformation.
The meeting, themed "Innovation and Progress: A Shared Vision," accurately reflects the pulse of the times and points the way to high-quality development for the transforming leather industry. The event focused on the challenges and opportunities of the industry's transformation period, deeply exploring core issues such as technological innovation, green transformation, and industrial synergy, fully demonstrating the responsibility and innovative vitality of the younger generation in the industry's transformation and upgrading.
Uniting the Power of Youth to Draw a Blueprint for Development
At the meeting, the head of the organizing company delivered a welcome speech as a "first-generation entrepreneur," explaining the dialectical relationship between inheritance and innovation based on his own professional experience. He emphasized that young entrepreneurs should not only uphold their parents' pursuit of craftsmanship and quality, but also be bold enough to break through traditional models, actively embrace the Internet of Things, AI technology, and new material research and development, and reshape the industry landscape with the courage to "innovate and reform." He also called on industry colleagues to abandon the "going it alone" mentality, leverage the association platform to achieve resource sharing and collaborative innovation, and jointly enhance the voice of China's leather industry in the global market.
The Secretary-General of the China Leather Industry Association pointed out in his speech that "innovation and reform" is a mission entrusted to young entrepreneurs by the times. Facing the trends of technological revolution, industrial transformation, and consumption upgrading, it is necessary to break traditional thinking and boldly innovate in the fields of technology, products, management, and marketing. "Working together" is an inevitable requirement for industry development. He hoped that young entrepreneurs would rely on the Youth Committee platform to strengthen collaboration and form a powerful synergy for win-win development. The Secretary-General specifically mentioned that discussing this theme on the fertile ground that nurtured the "Jinjiang Experience" has special significance, encouraging young entrepreneurs to draw strength from the spirit of "daring to fight and win, and being a pioneer," and bravely shoulder the responsibility of industry development.
Passing on Mission and Responsibility, Strengthening the Youth Team
A cup-passing ceremony was held at the annual meeting, where the 2024 rotating chairman solemnly passed the cup to the 2025 rotating chairman, symbolizing the passing on of the mission and responsibility of the Young Entrepreneurs Working Committee. In his inaugural address, the newly appointed rotating chairman emphasized that, facing industry changes and challenges, young entrepreneurs should uphold the spirit of "enthusiasm, focus, innovation, and sharing," drive industrial transformation with the courage of "innovation," and deepen collaborative cooperation with the belief of "moving forward together," jointly shaping a new technological, fashionable, and green future for the leather industry. He expressed his firm determination and vision for future work.
To further strengthen the young entrepreneur team, a certificate awarding ceremony for newly added committee members was held concurrently at the meeting. Association leaders and heads of relevant industry associations jointly presented certificates to the new members, encouraging them to actively integrate into the collective and contribute their wisdom and strength to the industry's development.
Analyzing Industry Trends and Planning Transformation Paths
The Deputy Secretary-General of the China Leather Industry Association delivered a keynote report on "Analysis and Development Outlook of China's Leather Industry in 2025." The report points out that the leather industry is currently at a critical stage of transformation and upgrading. While the industry maintained stable development in 2024, it has faced downward pressure since 2025, with weak exports and persistently low industry prosperity. Faced with these challenges, the industry also faces multiple development opportunities: national policies to expand domestic demand provide support for the improvement of the domestic market; new quality productivity continues to empower industrial innovation; intelligent manufacturing and green transformation are accelerating; and new trends such as the rise of Chinese fashion and green consumption are injecting vitality into development. The report emphasizes that the industry is actively building a new pattern of high-quality development through technological empowerment and model innovation, promoting the steady upgrading of the industry towards technology, fashion, and green development.
A world-class corporate governance and strategy expert delivered a keynote speech entitled "New Era, New Technology, New Future – Four Major Transformations of Future Technology for Enterprise Management." The expert pointed out that future technology is driving profound changes in enterprise operations and business models. Entrepreneurs need to break away from traditional spatial and temporal perspectives, examine development from a global perspective, and plan based on a comprehensive industrial chain layout. The speech, through analyzing typical industrial chain competition cases, systematically explained the core connotations of new-quality productivity: "revolutionary technological breakthroughs, innovative allocation of production factors, and deep industrial transformation and upgrading." It emphasized that artificial intelligence, big data models, and intelligent agents are reshaping industry boundaries, and enterprises need to upgrade their leadership and build a fusion capability of "humanity + new intelligence" to gain the initiative in diverse new tracks such as technology manufacturing, service consumption, and intelligent infrastructure.
The exchange session for young entrepreneurs focused on the theme of "Inheritance and Breakthrough," engaging in in-depth discussions. Participating young entrepreneurs, drawing on their corporate development practices, explored the transformation, upgrading, and sustainable development paths of traditional manufacturing industries against the backdrop of changing consumption structures and a complex international economic and trade situation. They unanimously agreed that, facing multiple challenges, innovation has shifted from an "optional" to a "must-have." Adhering to core business is the foundation of enterprise development, while building a corporate culture that dares to try and tolerate failure, along with a rapid verification mechanism, is key to driving continuous innovation. As the year for planning the 15th Five-Year Plan unfolds, young entrepreneurs expressed that the new generation of managers should break free from conventional thinking, seek breakthroughs while inheriting traditions, actively cultivate new productive forces, integrate enterprise development into the overall national strategy, and fulfill the industrial mission and responsibility of entrepreneurs in the new era. The exchange meeting was chaired by the newly appointed rotating chairman.
On the afternoon of November 21st, the young entrepreneurs visited leading enterprises in Jinjiang, including Xingye Leather Technology Co., Ltd., Xintai (Fujian) Technology Co., Ltd., and Fujian Zhongtai Dema Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd. Through on-site observation of advanced leather manufacturing processes and in-depth understanding of innovative R&D achievements in technological fabrics and intelligent equipment, participants gained a broader perspective across the industry chain, sparking collaborative ideas and achieving mutual learning and experience sharing.
On the morning of November 22nd, the young entrepreneurs visited the Jinjiang Experience Hall and conducted team-building activities, further enhancing organizational cohesion and collaborative spirit.
This annual meeting provided a high-quality platform for young entrepreneurs in the leather industry to exchange ideas and share resources. Through a series of practical activities, it stimulated innovation and built industry consensus, injecting vigorous youthful energy into the Chinese leather industry's goal of "reform and innovation, and moving forward together" in the new era.
