Pungent Workshop Fumes: My Green Leather Calling

My story begins with the acrid fishy stench in my father’s factory. He spent his entire life making traditional synthetic leather, yet he never let me step foot in the workshop. It wasn’t until I grew up that I saw with my own eyes: every year, workers suffered acute liver poisoning from exposure to DMF. What grieved me most was that many factory owners in this industry wouldn’t even enter their own workshops. How can workers feel safe in a place that even the managers shun? And how can we possibly talk about sustainable development?
China produces 80% of the world’s PU synthetic leather, yet we’ve long been large but not strong. When people hear the term "synthetic leather", what comes to mind is shoddy products with a pungent odor that tear easily. I couldn’t help but wonder: can we change this?
My journey started in 2014, when I whisked up the first sample of waterborne polyurethane with a simple kitchen whisk. Back then, I had no suppliers, no refined production processes, no specialized equipment—even no idea where to find customers. Many people doubted me: "What’s the difference between waterborne and oil-based synthetic leather? It still can’t be degraded, right?" But I firmly believed: sustainability is a marathon, and we have to start with the most pressing problem—first eliminate production toxicity, then talk about circular regeneration.
We finally landed our first order in 2016: 3,000 meters of fabric for leather jackets. In 2022, we built our own factory and achieved mass production at the scale of millions of meters. I know this is only the beginning. We still need to solve the problems of raw material sustainability and waste disposal—these are the real focus of our development.
That’s why we launched the R&D of bio-based materials in 2022, replacing petroleum-based raw materials with glycerol. In 2025, we verified the feasibility of substituting palm oil-derived glycerol with glycerol from used cooking oil (UCO), and we set out to tackle the most challenging closed-loop recycling technology—all to ensure that every meter of synthetic leather we sell can be recycled and reused.
This is my story. It’s my "family business", but it’s not a passive succession—it’s an active choice. I want to prove that we can be not just a large producer, but a strong one; that synthetic leather can be not only non-toxic and harmless, but also made from nature, and return to nature. I want to leave my own mark on this story of mine.