Council for Leather Exports and Material Exchange are partnering to develop a digital sourcing initiative aimed at connecting Indian leather, footwear and component suppliers with global brands through AI-supported sourcing and collaboration tools. The collaboration focuses on improving supplier visibility, sourcing readiness and buyer-supplier engagement across India’s leather and footwear industry.

The collaboration initiative has drawn support from industry partners. Andy Polk, Senior Vice President of the Footwear Distributors & Retailers of America (FDRA), highlighted the collaboration on LinkedIn:

“Leather suppliers in India are the first group to adopt legit AI sourcing, using digital workers to help them communicate and share all their data so brands find materials that meet their specs and guidelines, cutting their material selection and development times in half and saving Tier 1 factories significant costs.”

– Andy Polk, Senior Vice President, FDRA

The collaboration aims to onboard selected Indian suppliers onto the Material Exchange platform to help them build a stronger and more structured digital sourcing presence. Suppliers will be able to showcase company profiles, manufacturing capabilities, facilities, technologies, certifications, sustainability information, products, materials and collections in a professional digital format.

The platform aims to solve a major challenge in the industry where supplier discovery, onboarding and sourcing communication still remain fragmented across emails, spreadsheets, trade fairs and disconnected communication channels.

For global brands and sourcing teams, the platform will offer a curated digital base of Indian suppliers across leather, footwear, leather goods, footwear components, related materials and accessories.

Brands will be able to define sourcing requirements and receive AI-supported supplier suggestions, relevance ratings and sourcing-fit matches to speed up supplier discovery.

The system will also allow brands to track supplier updates across products, materials, collections, certifications and supporting documents while using the platform as a single communication layer for sourcing discussions, supplier follow-ups and ongoing collaboration.

Speaking to Leathernews.org, Jimit Shah, Head of Growth – South Asia at Material Exchange, said the collaboration is a strategic long-term initiative designed to digitally connect India’s footwear and leather manufacturing ecosystem with global sourcing markets through a more scalable and technology-enabled sourcing environment.

“India is one of the world’s largest footwear and leather manufacturing bases, with strong capabilities across footwear, leather goods, accessories, materials, and finished products.”

– Jimit Shah, Head of Growth – South Asia, Material Exchange

The company said recent visits across Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Kolkata and Bahadurgarh highlighted the manufacturing strength, compliance standards, export readiness and product quality of Indian suppliers.

Material Exchange added that global brands are increasingly looking to diversify sourcing beyond traditional markets while building more transparent and resilient supply chains. According to the company, India is well positioned to benefit due to its skilled workforce, competitive manufacturing scale, export capabilities and growing sustainability readiness.

“The initiative is therefore not just about software access, but about creating a structured export acceleration ecosystem that can improve global visibility, sourcing readiness and long-term business opportunities for Indian suppliers.”

– Jimit Shah, Head of Growth South Asia, Material Exchange

The collaboration combines Material Exchange’s digital sourcing platform, AI matchmaking technology between brands and suppliers, the Frank AI sourcing app, CLE/DCFLI’s supplier ecosystem and industry reach, Project India’s local execution support and FDRA’s global buyer network engagement.

Material Exchange said the timing is important as global sourcing diversification is accelerating, buyers increasingly expect digital-first supplier engagement and AI-supported sourcing discovery is becoming mainstream.

The collaboration aims to create a stronger digital sourcing foundation for India’s footwear, leather and components ecosystem while improving supplier visibility, sourcing collaboration and international market access for Indian manufacturers.

For more information, visit Material Exchange