How far can a specialized market go? Haining Leather City's latest answer: from the Yangtze River Delta straight to Central Asia, Russia, Brazil, South Korea, and Egypt. In July 2026, the 33rd Haining Leather Fashion Expo opened, attracting not only domestic buyers but also over 100 international buyers from more than ten countries, including Russia, Brazil, South Korea, and Azerbaijan. The clear signal: Haining Leather City is redefining the global position of China's leather industry with 'domestic and foreign trade integration' at its core.
From Passive to Proactive: Acceleration Under the '1513' Strategy
Haining's overseas expansion is not a series of scattered actions but follows a complete '1513' strategic framework. Under this strategy, Haining will build one Chinese port hub center (in Urumqi), five overseas exhibition centers in Russia, the UAE, South Korea, Egypt, and Brazil, and plan overseas warehouses in countries with populations over 100 million, integrating resources from Jiaxing and Haining for a collective push overseas. The core logic: a three-dimensional network of hubs, exhibitions, and warehouses lowers the threshold for SMEs to go global.
The pace of overseas actions accelerated significantly in 2026. In February, Haining Leather City organized its first group participation in the Russian International Garment Brand Exhibition, where local buyers showed strong interest in fur, fur-lined coats, and goose-down jackets, with some companies signing orders on the spot. In March, the Xinjiang Haining Leather City project was signed, followed by participation in the Hong Kong International Fur & Fashion Fair. A memorandum of cooperation was signed with Azerbaijan's Gulf Group in April, the Sao Paulo exhibition center and overseas warehouse in Brazil were inaugurated in May, South Korean and Egyptian overseas warehouses were launched in June, and a group participated in the UK London International Fashion & Apparel Exhibition in July. This high-density overseas layout signals a complete shift from a passive 'shopkeeper' model to an active 'trader' model.
The Xinjiang Hub and Overseas Warehouses: Solving the 'Last Mile'
The Xinjiang Haining Leather City project is a key piece of the '1513' strategy. Located at the Urumqi airport hub—a strategic point 'connecting five ports to eight countries and one road to Eurasia'—it is scheduled to open in September 2026. It will function as an airport commercial complex integrating leather product display, retail, wholesale, and cross-border trade, primarily targeting the Central Asian market. For Haining enterprises, this means products can directly enter the Eurasian hinterland from the border gateway, significantly reducing logistics time and costs.
Overseas warehouses solve the 'last mile' delivery and after-sales issues. Warehouses in Sao Paulo (Brazil), South Korea, and Egypt are already operational, enabling local delivery and providing display and after-sales functions. For SMEs, this is like having a 'pre-warehouse' in overseas markets without bearing the high cost of building one independently.
From Landlord to Service Provider: Reshaping the Market's Role
While expanding outward, Haining Leather City is undergoing a profound internal transformation. In April, the market officially released its 'Four Complexes' construction plan: a foreign trade service complex, a 'shopping, entertainment, dining, accommodation, and travel' complex, a full-category apparel complex, and a vertically integrated industrial chain complex. This marks a shift from a rent-collecting 'landlord' to a comprehensive industry service platform.
Specifically, the consumer end has introduced new formats like new energy vehicle showrooms, trendy tea shops, and leather craft creative stores. The A-section market has undergone image renovation, the DFUR luxury center has been remodeled, and the 'Haining·IN Lane' waterfront district and water art center are under development. These moves upgrade the traditional leather trading market into a lifestyle space integrating shopping, leisure, and experience. On the service side, Haining has deepened its '1039 Market Procurement Trade' model, establishing the 'Chaolai' industry service platform to provide one-stop export services—from filing and customs declaration to foreign exchange settlement—for SMEs. This means a small factory with no prior export experience can sell products overseas through this platform with near-zero barriers.
Implications for Industrial Clusters: How Specialized Markets Find New Growth
Haining's transformation path offers lessons for other domestic textile and apparel specialized markets. The core insight: when traditional booth-based wholesale models hit growth bottlenecks, market operators need to upgrade from 'trading venues' to 'industry service providers.' Haining's approach is to directly connect with international buyers through overseas warehouses and exhibition networks, lower the export threshold for SMEs through the market procurement trade model, and retain domestic customers with experiential consumption. This 'internal and external' strategy turns the specialized market from a middleman into a value hub linking manufacturing with global consumers.
For buyers and foreign trade companies, Haining's changes mean lower procurement costs and shorter supply chains. The local delivery capability of overseas warehouses allows international buyers to restock as quickly as domestically, while the one-stop service platform frees small factories from dependence on intermediaries, enabling direct participation in global competition.