On December 26, 2025, the Shanghai Leather Technology Association successfully held its 45th Anniversary Conference and 2025 Academic Annual Meeting at the Shanghai Science Hall. More than 100 people gathered, including leaders from the China Leather Industry Association, relevant officials from the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology, representatives from leather industry associations in Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui, senior experts from the Shanghai leather industry, faculty and students from universities such as Donghua University, and member representatives, to celebrate the association's 45th anniversary and explore pathways for technological innovation and green development in the industry.
At the conference, the head of the Shanghai Leather Technology Association delivered a welcome speech, reviewing the association's 45-year development history, systematically outlining its contributions to the development of Shanghai's leather industry in areas such as technology inheritance, innovation-driven development, and industry services, and outlining a future development blueprint centered on green and digital technologies.
Leaders from the China Leather Industry Association attended the conference and delivered speeches, congratulating the association on being awarded the title of "Advanced Association," highly praising its outstanding role in technology promotion and industry collaboration over the past 45 years, and providing guidance for the transformation and development of the leather industry in Shanghai and even nationwide. Representatives from the Shanghai Association for Science and Technology encouraged the association to continue playing its role as a bridge and link, focusing on technological self-reliance to solidify the foundation of industrial innovation, strengthening talent development to stimulate industry vitality, deepening science popularization and services to consolidate development synergy, integrating into Shanghai's overall development to highlight its unique advantages, and contributing industry strength to Shanghai's "Five Centers" and "Four Functions" construction. Representatives from the Zhejiang Provincial Leather Industry Association congratulated the conference and proposed strengthening cross-regional cooperation in the Yangtze River Delta leather industry, promoting the formation of an integrated pattern of "information sharing, resource sharing, and complementary advantages," and contributing Yangtze River Delta wisdom to the high-quality development of the national leather industry.
A representative from the association delivered a keynote report on its 45th anniversary, reviewing the association's 45-year development history, from the early stages of reform and opening up, the adjustment and development period, the second entrepreneurial period, to the transformation and upgrading period, all under the guidance and support of the older generation of leather pioneers and the inheritance and cultivation of the new generation of colleagues. Representatives from three generations of members spoke in turn, recounting the hardships of starting a business, sharing their joys of success, and looking forward to the future of the industry, showcasing the enduring vitality of the leather industry.
The conference included an awards ceremony, announcing the awarding of outstanding prizes and presenting awards to advanced enterprises and individuals who have made significant contributions to the industry's development, highlighting the power of industry role models.
At the concurrently held 2025 Academic Annual Meeting, industry experts and scholars delivered several insightful keynote speeches. Among them, leaders from the China Leather Industry Association presented a report on "Development and Prospects of the Leather Industry"; university professors shared research on "Typical Models and Workflow Characteristics of Footwear Product Design and Development"; and experts and scholars also elaborated on topics such as "The Hidden Switch of Decision-Making" and the scientific correlation between "Shoes and Gait." The speeches covered multiple fields, including macro trends, micro design, decision science, and health engineering, fully demonstrating the inclusive and cross-disciplinary development potential of the leather technology industry.
This conference not only summarized the association's 45 years of development achievements but also forged consensus and injected momentum into the high-quality development of the leather industry. In the future, the Shanghai Leather Technology Association will continue to focus on technological innovation, promote the green transformation and cross-regional coordinated development of the industry, and help China's leather industry reach new heights.
