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Chinese mainland's sportswear brand goes int'l through HK

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-16 22:54

HONG KONG - Chinese mainland-based Xtep International Holdings Limited, a growing sportswear brand, inaugurated its first flagship store for the Disney Sport products in Hong Kong on Monday.

Ding Shui Po, company chairman and chief executive officer, said "certainly the next step is to explore the overseas market" given that the brand already has over 5,800 stores covering 31 provinces and provincial cities on the mainland.

Established in 1999, Xtep is one of a growing number of mainland brands using Hong Kong as a platform to launch themselves in the international market in recent years, said Simon Galpin, director-general of investment promotion at Invest Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong is an irreplaceable financial center and commercial hub, which is the key reason for us to choose to list in Hong Kong, " Ding said, referring to the listing of the company's shares in Hong Kong last year.

Ding said he planned to use Hong Kong as a platform to further expand his business to emerging markets, including the Middle East and the southeast Asian countries.

"We have set up an experienced global marketing team in Hong Kong," he said.

About 5,400 of Xtep's mainland stores were selling products under its own brand Xtep, a brand targeting mainly the growing young consumers. The others, numbered more than 400, were marketing products under the licensed brand Disney Sport since 2006.

Ding, obviously ambitious, set up an international team led by Sanjiv Hahbubuni, who is currently director of global marketing at Xtep International Trading Ltd.

"We are seeing more and more Mainland Chinese enterprises benefiting from this formula, much like Xtep has," Galpin said, referring to the expansion in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong and mainland-based teams of Invest Hong Kong, the investment promotion arm of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, looked forward to assisting Xtep with its expansion plans in and through Hong Kong, he added.