Anta: the Chinese sports brand takes on Nike and Adidas

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China’s economy was just beginning to open up in the late 1980s when a determined high school dropout traveled to Beijing with 600 pairs of shoes.

Ding Shizhong had them made in a relative’s factory and now he was going to sell them. The money he earned funded his first workshop where he began making shoes for other companies.

The 17-year-old was one of many new Chinese entrepreneurs at a time when capitalism was taking off under the watchful eye of Communist Party leaders.

But it turns out Ding had much bigger plans.

His business has since grown into a sportswear company called Anta, which has built a stable of international brands including Arc’teryx and Salomon. More recently, it acquired a stake in Puma.

Today, it is trying to compete with Nike and Adidas, a goal Ding expressed in 2005: “We don’t want to be the Nike of China, but the Anta of the world.”

Anta may not yet be a household name in the West, but it has more than 10,000 stores in China and sponsors top athletes like freestyle skier Eileen Gu.

In February, it opened its first point of sale in the United States: a flagship store in the upscale Beverly Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The company’s global effort, which comes as Donald Trump aims to bring factory jobs back to the United States with tariffs, highlights how essential and competitive Chinese supply chains have become for the manufacturing sector.

The rise of Anta – which means “safe measures” – is not exactly unique. Decades of the world’s factories have given several ambitious Chinese companies the opportunity to take on the very people they once considered their customers.

From shoe manufacturer to global brand

Founded in 1991, Anta began far from the glitz and glamor of Beverly Hills as a small manufacturer in the city of Jinjiang in the southeastern province of Fujian.

Jinjiang has rapidly developed from a quiet agricultural county to the “shoe capital of the world” under the government’s plan to establish specific industries in different provinces.

Soon, there was an influx of investment from sneaker giants who were looking for overseas factories that could help them reduce their production costs.

Several clusters focused on different types of shoes have emerged in Jinjiang and nearby cities on the east coast, each with its own specialized supply chain.

At the heart of the Jinjiang hub lies Go to townan area of ​​approximately 40 km² (15.4 square miles) that is home to thousands of factories and suppliers. The district helped solidify the city’s reputation for manufacturing shoes for global brands such as Nike and Adidas.

Each hub brought together suppliers of laces, soles and fabrics, as well as logistics companies that help quickly turn designs into store-ready products and ship them.

In 2005, Fujian alone produced nearly a fifth of the world’s shoe production, according to UN estimates.

Nearly a third of Jinjiang’s workers are still employed by one of thousands of shoe manufacturers in the city, which is among China’s highest-paying economic districts.

Something similar happened in various parts of China: Jinjiang was just one of many manufacturing hubs on the east coast alone. The others made clothing or electronic devices.

This level of specialization in manufacturing was unheard of elsewhere in the world at the time, says Fei Qin, an associate professor at the University of Bath who studied factories in eastern China in the 2000s.

As foreign customers flocked to strike deals with these factories, the country reaped much more than revenue.

“They learned not only how to produce more, but also how to produce better, faster and more consistently,” adds Fei.

It was on these streets that Anta expanded, making wholesale and low-cost shoes for global brands.

It has established an extensive distribution network with retailers across China, which is crucial for manufacturers looking to expand.

At the same time, Anta gradually began to gain national exposure, opening new stores and partnering with major sporting events, including national basketball and table tennis competitions.

Companies like Anta know this there’s more value in being a known brand rather than a contract manufacturer, Fei says.

In 2007, Anta listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising around HK$3.5 billion (£330 million; $450 million) – a record at the time for a Chinese sports company.

Branding consultant Wei Kan, who has worked with Converse and Nike in China, says Anta stood out thanks to its full-fledged production center that allowed it to design and sell shoes faster than its competitors.

It was also one of the few Chinese companies to target the same buyers as major Western brands, Kan says.

Companies like Anta, which start by making products for global brands, gradually learn the basics of business management, do well in China and “naturally move on to bigger things,” Kan adds.

There are many others, such as technology company Xiaomi, which started as a software developer customizing Android-based systems, before manufacturing its own phones, electronic devices and now electric vehicles (EVs).

Similarly, DJI manufactured camera equipment and drone components before becoming a full-fledged international drone manufacturer.

Perhaps the best-known example is BYD, once a battery maker for electric vehicle pioneers like Tesla and now the world’s largest manufacturer in the sector.

“Each of these companies are now giants in their field,” Kan says.

Courting the West

Anta is now eyeing Western markets.

It operates more than 12,000 stores in China. The company also has more than 460 overseas outlets and plans to open 1,000 stores in Southeast Asia alone in the next three years.

But Nike, which still has the largest market share in athletic shoes, has only 1,000 stores worldwide.

Chinese companies are known for expanding rapidly at home, before venturing overseas where they encounter more difficulties when expanding.

On the one hand, there is a perception challenge. Chinese products are often seen as cheap, low quality or copied products.

Anta has attempted to remedy this situation through acquisitions, in an approach it calls a “multi-brand strategy.” The first big move was to buy Fila’s rights in China in 2009 and make the Italian-founded brand a major revenue source for its business, says Elisa Harca of Chinese marketing agency Red Ant Asia.

In 2019, Anta acquired a majority stake in Finnish athletics brand Amer Sports. The deal gave Anta control of Amer’s companies, which included high-end brands Arc’teryx and Salomon.

Anta also owns Wilson, the American manufacturer of tennis rackets and balls used by the National Basketball Association. And this year it acquired a 29% stake in Puma, pledging to help the German company expand in China.

These are measures that help Anta avoid “forcing” its products into every market and instead use its Western brands as a gateway, says business analyst Rufio Zhu of global sports marketing agency IMG.

This way, Anta can reach buyers who might be wary of a “made in China” brand, Zhu says.

Celebrity endorsements are a key element for a truly global brand. Nike, for example, made a groundbreaking deal with Michael Jordan in the 1980s.

Anta has signed basketball players like Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving, but deals of the type that earned Nike or Adidas their brands have yet to be made.

And being a Chinese brand comes with hurdles given Beijing’s troubled relationship with the West and particularly the United States.

Growing companies must toe the line between China and the West, Kan says. “Brands like Anta need to prepare for this.”

A turning point

Anta’s rise comes as competitors like Nike and Adidas face their own challenges globally and in China.

US tariffs have affected their revenues as they import products made in Asia. Nike has also been struggling to revive sales since its e-commerce efforts backfired after Covid-19, and demand in China has also slowed due to low consumption.

Their struggles put Anta in a favorable position overseas, especially given consumers’ growing appetite for other brands, says Zhu, a sports marketing specialist.

“The question is not whether Anta will increase its visibility. It is whether competitors will be able to adapt quickly enough to defend their territory.”

Meanwhile, China is “future-readying its manufacturers” by rapidly deploying robots in factories, speeding up production and potentially reducing costs, Fei adds.

The opening of Anta’s first outlet in the United States comes after years of selling in the country through department stores.

Its walls are lined with shelves of sneakers and basketball shoes – markets that Anta must conquer in the United States to compete with Nike or Adidas.

The company admits it still has a way to go.

“We are real “You’re not sure about competition, but the global sportswear landscape is not a zero-sum game,” an Anta spokesperson told the BBC.

“We are confident that sports fans will recognize Anta’s innovation and brand value.

Additional reporting by Adam Hancock