This strategic cooperation stemmed from in-depth negotiations during the APLF Asia Pacific Leather Fair held from March 12 to 14, 2026. Following over a month of detailed discussions, the cooperation details were finalized in mid-April, enabling precise resource integration and complementary strengths for both parties.

During the fair, Mr. Zhang Yanan, Chairman of Nantong Sirui, held in-depth talks with Ivan Peloso, person in charge of ALPE Group Italy. The two sides conducted initial consultations on cooperation visions, market layouts and specific terms, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent strategic partnership. On March 14, the closing day of the fair, they further refined cooperation directions, clarified core demands and the preliminary framework, kicking off formal strategic cooperation negotiations.

The partnership is driven by mutual core demands and complementary strengths, as well as the evolving trends of the global leather industry. As a renowned enterprise deeply rooted in the leather machinery sector, ALPE Group Italy boasts profound brand influence and a comprehensive global sales network. Amid the ongoing restructuring of the global leather industry, China — with its large market scale and strong development potential — has become a core priority in its global strategy. ALPE is in urgent need of a well-established Chinese partner with high market share and a solid reputation in the domestic leather machinery industry, to leverage local advantages for regional market expansion and brand localization in China.

As a national high-tech enterprise and industry leader, Nantong Sirui has focused on the R&D, production and sales of leather machinery since its founding in 1997. It has built solid technical expertise and extensive market resources, maintaining strong competitiveness in core products including vacuum machines and staking machines. Its core products hold an up-to-80% domestic market share, ranking top in the industry, and are exported to more than 20 countries and regions including India, the Netherlands and Portugal, fully meeting ALPE’s needs for Chinese market expansion.

Meanwhile, while dominating the domestic market, Nantong Sirui still has huge room for overseas expansion. It aims to leverage the global reputation and channel resources of internationally renowned brands to broaden global sales networks, enhance international brand awareness and achieve further growth in global market share.

Under the strategic cooperation agreement, Nantong Sirui will serve as ALPE Group’s core partner in China. Relying on its comprehensive sales network and local influence, Sirui will support the promotion and sales of ALPE’s products across China. In return, Nantong Sirui will capitalize on ALPE’s global brand advantages and overseas channels to accelerate international expansion for its flagship products such as vacuum machines and staking machines, advancing dual development of in-depth domestic cultivation and global market expansion.

Both parties will give full play to their respective strengths in technology, marketing and branding, deepen collaboration and share resources. Together, they will address industry challenges, seize market opportunities, and achieve mutually beneficial and sustainable development.

Mr. Zhang Yanan, Chairman of Nantong Sirui, stated:

“This strategic cooperation with ALPE Group Italy marks a vital opportunity for complementary development and joint progress. Taking this partnership as a bond, Nantong Sirui will maximize its domestic advantages while accelerating global layout with ALPE’s international influence, continuously upgrading product quality and service standards. Moving forward, we will jointly deepen our presence in the leather machinery industry, drive technological upgrading and market development, and deliver improvements in both economic and social benefits.”

This landmark cooperation not only consolidates Nantong Sirui’s leading position in China’s leather machinery sector, but also injects strong momentum into its global development. It also sets an exemplary model for collaboration between Chinese and foreign leather machinery enterprises. With joint efforts, the two sides will realize resource complementarity and coordinated development, seize opportunities in the global leather machinery market, and create brilliant achievements together.

Recently, the smooth loading and delivery of the final wringing machine marked the successful conclusion of the full set of customized leather processing equipment delivered by our company to Dezhou Xinghao Leather Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Dezhou Xinghao Leather”). This batch of equipment is precisely tailored to the intelligent production line renovation needs of Dezhou Xinghao Leather. It will further help the enterprise boost production efficiency and optimize product quality, fully demonstrating our professional strength and efficient contract performance capability in the field of leather machinery manufacturing.

It is reported that in 2025, supported by relevant government policies, Dezhou Xinghao Leather launched an intelligent production line renovation project. Committed to building an efficient, intelligent and eco-friendly modern leather production line, the enterprise aims to break the bottlenecks of traditional production modes and enhance its core competitiveness. After extensive investigation and comparison, Dezhou Xinghao Leather reached a cooperation with our company last year out of high recognition of our product quality, technical strength and after-sales service. It ordered a full set of customized leather processing equipment, including 5 vacuum machines, 2 wringing machines, 2 staking machines and 1 blue hide sorting machine. Covering all key links of leather processing, the equipment provides core support for the renovation of its intelligent production line.

After the cooperation was finalized, our company attached great importance to this customized project and set up a special service team. We closely communicated with Dezhou Xinghao Leather to understand its production demands and process standards, and carried out targeted optimized design for the equipment in line with its production line renovation plan, ensuring every piece of equipment perfectly adapts to its production procedures. From raw material procurement and manufacturing to quality inspection, we strictly complied with industry standards to control product quality throughout the process. Meanwhile, we optimized the production cycle and accelerated the manufacturing progress to ensure on-time, high-quality delivery, helping Dezhou Xinghao Leather complete production line upgrading at an early date.

The full set of delivered equipment features intelligence, high efficiency and environmental friendliness, perfectly meeting the operation requirements of Dezhou Xinghao Leather’s intelligent production line:

• The vacuum machines realize efficient leather drying and improve finished product stability;
• The wringing machines deliver high-efficiency dehydration and reduce energy consumption in subsequent processing;
• The staking machines optimize leather hand feel and increase product added value;
• The blue hide sorting machine enables accurate leather grading and supports refined production.

The application of this complete equipment set will effectively raise Dezhou Xinghao Leather’s production efficiency, improve product quality, advance the practical implementation of its intelligent production line renovation, and further strengthen its market competitiveness in the leather industry.

Relevant person in charge of Dezhou Xinghao Leather stated that the cooperation with our company has been highly smooth. We not only provided high-quality customized equipment, but also offered professional technical consultation and full-process services to facilitate the production line renovation. It is believed that with the official operation of the full set of equipment, the company’s production capacity will achieve a qualitative leap. In the future, it will continue to focus on the leather industry to achieve higher-quality development.

Our company’s person in charge remarked that the successful delivery of customized equipment for Dezhou Xinghao Leather is a vital achievement of win-win cooperation and a full reflection of our comprehensive strength. Going forward, we will adhere to the philosophy of Quality Supreme, Customer First, further specialize in leather machinery manufacturing, and continuously upgrade products and services. We will precisely cater to customers’ demands for production line renovation and upgrading, and provide more targeted customized equipment solutions. By empowering more leather enterprises to achieve intelligent and modern transformation, we will jointly promote the high-quality development of the leather industry.

This year’s fair saw a rise in the proportion of fur leather and vegetable-tanned leather. JBS, the world’s largest wet-blue leather supplier, exhibited finished leather for the first time, signaling its expansion into finished leather products. The largest booth belonged to Longfeng Gelemai, which showcased its core fur leather alongside new offerings of shoe upper leather and sofa leather. Korean fashion bag brands drew crowds with their distinct styles and trendy color palettes.

Among leather machinery, no foreign manufacturers brought equipment to exhibit; only two domestic Chinese manufacturers — Jiangsu Liangang Leather Machinery and Nantong Sirui Machinery — displayed machinery. Nantong Sirui’s new leather stacking machine addresses issues like uneven stacking, curling, and wrinkling during downstream processes such as spraying and ironing. Its specially designed flattening mechanism solves these problems perfectly while meeting speed and efficiency requirements. The core technology is Sirui’s exclusive innovation, demonstrated multiple times with real leather on-site. Domestic and international customers and peers took photos and videos, which quickly spread in WeChat groups, achieving excellent promotion results. Chen Zhanguang, Vice Chairman of the China Leather Association, visited the booth. Company Chairman Zhang Yanan gave a detailed introduction to the exhibited equipment, and Chen praised Sirui’s continuous product innovation.

The progress of China’s leather machinery industry is evident to all, including foreign manufacturers. During the fair, foreign tanneries and Italian leather machinery peers actively visited the booth for exchanges, and multiple cooperation intentions were reached.

In a conversation with Mr. Xu of Yangbao Machinery, he clearly felt that the global economic downturn was strongly reflected at the fair.

The fair is always filled with familiar faces and brands, though their numbers dwindle each year. But natural selection prevails: only the true strong remain.

Gold shines through the dust, and heroes stand firm at the tide’s crest. Friends in the leather industry, keep striving — victory belongs to us!

Sirui’s stacking equipment for thin and soft leather, suitable for processes such as spraying and ironing.