Global Pet Expo closed its 2026 edition at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando on 27 March. More than 20,000 pet industry professionals attended over the three days, according to trade coverage of the show, which is co-hosted by the American Pet Products Association and the Pet Industry Distributors Association and closed to the public.

The headline numbers came from APPA's own 2026 State of the Industry report, released at the show: the US pet industry took in 158 billion dollars in sales in 2025, with pet food and treats accounting for 68.3 billion — 43.2 per cent of the total.

The number that matters for suppliers sits underneath those two.

THE TRADE-DOWN

APPA found that 22 per cent of American pet owners reported spending less on their pets in 2025 — up ten percentage points on 2024. Pet spending has become non-discretionary; owners are not giving up the category, they are hunting for value inside it.

Pet Food Processing's editorial team, walking the floor, named the collision of premiumisation and affordability as the show's defining trend: products engineered to look and read premium at a price point a squeezed owner will still pay.

"Though pet-related expenses have evolved to become non-discretionary to consumers, APPA found that 22% of pet owners reported spending less on their pets in 2025, an increase of 10% from 2024. — Pet Food Processing, reporting from the show"

WHO BENEFITS

When a market trades down without shrinking, the winners are not the incumbent premium brands. They are the retailers' own labels and the value lines built to sit one shelf below — and both of those are manufactured somewhere.

For hard goods — collars, leads, harnesses, grooming tools, the stitched-and-riveted end of the category — a private-label programme is exactly the kind of order a Sialkot leather workshop is built for: the buyer supplies the specification and the brand, the factory supplies the make. A trade-down year is when those programmes get commissioned, because a retailer who needs a cheaper collar on the shelf by autumn does not develop it in-house.

The two floor zones where those conversations start were both busy in Orlando: the New Product Showcase and the Start-Up Pavilion, where younger brands without locked-in supply chains go looking for production partners.

THE SOURCING READ

  • The market grew to $158 billion while 22 per cent of owners cut spending. That combination — growth plus trade-down — is the private-label signal.
  • Value lines are commissioned, not invented. Retailers respond to a squeeze by ordering cheaper programmes from contract manufacturers. Be the factory in the room when they do.
  • Work the Start-Up Pavilion. Young brands showed in force in Orlando, and they are the buyers most open to a new production partner.
  • The next edition is 17–19 March 2027, same venue. Trade-only, and the show runs a dedicated Supplier Pavilion — read our coverage of what that offers.

MAKE THE TRIP

Global Pet Expo returns to the Orange County Convention Center on 17–19 March 2027. Registration runs through GlobalPetExpo.org, and the show remains closed to the public — everyone in the hall is trade.

Between now and March, the reconnaissance is the 2026 exhibitor list: mark the value and private-label brands in your category, note which distributors carried them, and arrive in Orlando with a target list. Our earlier coverage of the 2027 edition sets out why its Supplier Pavilion is the right first stop.