Trends apparent in sports apparel

City is geared to dress the nation's athletes

If you want to know how the porcelain industry is faring, you need go no further than Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province. If sportswear is your field of interest, the place to go to is Quanzhou, as it is a microcosm of the industry.

The city is home to most sportswear brands in China, with more than 1,300 such businesses located there.

To consolidate its position as one of the world's largest sportswear manufacturing centers, local producers are looking to foster more international brands by promoting their domestic ones globally.

"Undeterred by the global economic malaise, the city's sportswear businesses are now keener than ever in their quest for brand recognition and going global," says Shi Zhengzhi, deputy secretary-general of Quanzhou Textile and Garment Chamber of Commerce.

Sportswear companies in Quanzhou received great exposure at the London Olympics in 2012, with delegations from 21 countries, including China, wearing the outfits made by eight companies from Quanzhou. Since then, sportswear companies in the city have stepped up their efforts to gain brand promotion through sponsoring international sporting events.

"We strategically focus on sponsoring elite athletes, popular leagues and influential sports associations," says Zhang Tao, vice-president of Anta Sports Products, China's biggest sportswear company by market share.

"Those sponsorships strengthen our professional image in the performance-based sportswear market and enhance our brand and product differentiation."

This month Anta Sports unveiled the "champion dragon outfit", a series of apparel specially designed for Chinese athletes taking part in the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, from Feb 6. The company is a sponsorship partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee, Zhang says, a relationship that is a milestone in the development of the company, which was founded 20 years ago in Jinjiang, a county level city under the jurisdiction of Quanzhou.

"As the strategic partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee, we have collaborated closely with them to produce a well-rounded, integrated marketing campaign centered on several important sporting events."

For the 2013 to 2016 Olympic cycle, Anta Sports will continue to provide professional sportswear outfits to 16 Chinese national teams for competitions, awards ceremonies, training and daily use, Zhang says.

"We position ourselves as a functional sportswear brand that focuses on the mass market. We are using our sponsorship to solidify Anta's brand position as a representative of Chinese sport."

In addition to forming relationships with influential sponsors, Zhang says, Anta Sports has a multi-brand strategy to seize growth opportunities in various areas of the sportswear market. This is vital to the company's brand building and sustainable development, he says.

The company has tightened its grip on the children's sportswear market by expanding product offerings for children aged between 3 to 14 under the brand Anta Kids. In the high-end sportswear segment, Anta bought the Italian sportswear giant Fila in 2009, and its business continues to grow steadily in China.

Zhang says the Kids and Fila businesses play a strategic role in the portfolio of Anta's products, which will benefit from the brand's long-term growth.

"We believe there will be sustainable growth in functional and value-for-money sportswear products in the future."

Thanks to the company's strong sports resources and quality products, Anta Sports has been enjoying greater brand recognition in China and overseas, he says.

Other Quanzhou sportswear businesses have stepped up their efforts to enter the global market.

For Xu Jingnan, CEO and founder of Peak Sport Products Co, international competition between sportswear makers boils down to rivalry between brands.

"Brand reputation is the most valuable intangible asset of a company," he says.

Xu established Peak Sport in 1989 and for the past decade has been committed to promoting the brand's international influence.

"Compared with big international names such as Nike and Adidas, Peak is weaker in brand awareness, but that doesn't mean we don't have a chance.

"We aim to provide better products in the same price range, and that's our competitive edge."

Peak Sport produces goods in a variety of sports, basketball being its primary focus. The company has formed strategic partnerships with some NBA teams including the Houston Rockets and the Miami Heat, making it the third-largest NBA sponsor after Nike and Adidas.

In 2009 Peak was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which Xu believes will better present the brand to investors worldwide.

In 2009, to further capitalize on its association with the NBA, Peak opened a branch office and a research and development center in the US.

Before entering that market, the company's products had been exported to more than 90 countries and regions and it had opened more than 200 stores overseas, including in Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Xu says that as basketball apparel is Peak's pillar product, the US offers the company the most promise, largely because of the popularity of basketball there, even though it is the most competitive market.

Peak has opened several outlets in the US, and Xu says it is now negotiating with Footlocker, a US sportswear retailer that has more than 7,000 outlets, to become one of its main suppliers.

"The US expansion is vital for our overseas expansion. Success in the US market will help shape our plans in other foreign markets."

Xu says that compared with the biggest sports apparel brands, Peak is still a welterweight, but he is confident it will win a place on the global stage some day because it will continue investing heavily in product innovation and step up brand-building efforts.

"Although keen competition will continue to cast clouds over the going-global strategy of domestic sportswear makers, we remain optimistic about our long-term development."

Contact the writers through liulu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/24/2014 page19)