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On July 15, Haining International Convention and Exhibition Center welcomed the opening of the 33rd Haining Leather Fashion Expo. It runs through July 17 under the theme “Trend Initiation: Symbiosis.” What was previously known as Haining Fashion Week has been folded into the national system as China International Fashion Week · Haining.
Haining has been known within the industry as China’s leather capital for decades, built on manufacturing volume and wholesale trade. The expo itself is organised under the China Leather Association and the China National Light Industry Council, with local government backing that has carried through since its earlier editions. Zhejiang-based leather brand Snow Leopard, established more than 40 years ago, opened the event after earlier presentations in both Milan and Paris.
The city’s leather trade goes back to 1994, when the Haining China Leather City complex first opened and began pulling in manufacturers from across the Yangtze River Delta. A curated selection of autumn and winter brands chosen for original design capability across three exhibition halls. 17 nationally recognised leading brand enterprises operate out of Haining’s leather sector, alongside dozens more carrying provincial or municipal brand designations.
The expo has always leaned toward wholesale and sourcing over pure spectacle, drawing professional buyers and channel merchants looking to lock in cold-weather orders ahead of the season. Beijing’s organising committee has historically kept the China International Fashion Week label limited to a small group of cities, and this is the first year Haining has carried it alongside the wholesale trade it was already running.
Snow Leopard was founded in Haining in 1984. China’s leather industry association has long counted Snow Leopard among the country’s leading genuine-leather brands, a standing it has held since the mid-1990s.
In February 2018, it headlined the Fashion Haining Show at Palazzo Serbelloni in Milan alongside fellow Haining label FOOR, presenting sixty looks built around leather and fur. Sohu’s contemporaneous coverage describes Snow Leopard’s palette moving from sage green and mauve through deepening greys, blues, and black, with recycled fur worked into wool pieces for a softer, minimalist finish. Mario Boselli, honorary president of Italy’s National Chamber of Fashion, was among those in attendance during Milan Fashion Week’s autumn/winter season, and a static presentation by the delegation was staged at the Papaveri Showroom the following day for European buyers and press.
Paris followed seven years later. In September 2025, Snow Leopard joined a four-label showcase under the China Good Design banner at the Chinese Cultural Center, marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and France. The line, themed “Nomadic Metropolis,” centred on a patented waterproof leather treatment worked into pale pink and glacier grey tones drawn from earth and ice formations. Detachable, modular components abstracted mountain contours and rock strata into the panel construction, with bird and fish forms informing the cut of several pieces. A traceability chip capable of recording a garment’s carbon footprint was another feature of the collection. Presented during the third China-France Fashion Week, the event featured Snow Leopard alongside emerging labels including Ruyue Design and Shikuang WIDS x Erakuang.
This year’s Haining presentation carries the title “Reform,” staged with Jixian Lingjue Leather and Zhongke New Energy Technology. An antimicrobial coating developed through a university research partnership covers roughly 80 menswear and womenswear pieces across four collections billed as heritage-inspired tailoring, ultra-thin outerwear, technical outdoor pieces, and structured business travel wear. Hu Liqin, the brand’s research and design director since 2005, is credited with the collection. She also led the Milan and Paris presentations.
Snow Leopard is sharing floor space with established Haining manufacturers and a batch of out-of-region exhibitors, among them brands from Liaoning’s Tong’erbao leather cluster and Zhejiang’s Tongxiang district. There is also a dedicated high-end down segment with several regional labels. Cashmere coats and silk pieces have been added to the floor plan alongside it.
The expo also runs the 29th Genuine Leather Mark Cup, a juried design competition organised by the China Leather Association and open to designers and design students working in leather and fur, with entries drawn from across China as well as international design schools. Judging is divided into separate categories for leather outerwear and fur design. It ends in a runway final, a fixture the expo has carried since its earlier decades. Finalists from the competition will be showing on the same floor as Snow Leopard this week.
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