Consumption
Take Bangladesh as an example. In 2015 and 2016 Bangladesh produced about $1.5 billion in leather and leather goods. Most of it was exported to the EU, the US, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, etc. According to the Datamyne records, more than a dozen fashion and shoe companies imported products made in Bangladesh through November 2016. The largest of these include Michael Kors, Timberland, Hugo Boss, C & J Clark America, Puma, and the Gap Inc. brand Banana Republic.
Nowadays, leather occupies a huge market in total consumption. In 2018, demand for leather in the world is nearly $215 billion, which includes footwear, furniture upholstery, clothing, vehicle upholstery. handbags, accessories, travel goods, sports goods, stationery, saddles, military equipment, animal articles and so on. Meanwhile, the leather goods market size is expected to post a CAGR(Compound annual growth rate) over 5% during the period 2019-2023.
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The major reasons for the increase are growing fashion-consciousness, customer spending power, evolving lifestyles, and rising penetration of smartphone online shopping. In order to meet the large demand and get the obvious profit from this market, more and more tanneries appear especially around Asia where the labor is much cheaper.