Sportswear in China

2021 DEVELOPMENTS

Sportswear picks up strong growth momentum after 2020 decline

Although sportswear weathered the pandemic as the most resilient category within apparel and footwear, slight current value decline was still registered in 2020 due to retail disruption. However, the category quickly returned to dynamic growth, with consumers’ appetite for sportswear leading to strong recovery in the second half of 2020, which was sustained during 2021, registering fast-paced double-digit current value growth.

Polarising performance of domestic and international brands

A large number of foreign brands were caught up in the controversy around Xinjiang cotton in March 2021, and most of the leading players in sportswear were no exception. With the statement that they would not source cotton from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region over concerns of “forced labour”, leading foreign sportswear brands such as Nike, adidas and Puma were faced with a backlash from Chinese consumers in support of Xinjiang cotton.

Enhancing social attributes to stay connected with consumers

The COVID-19 pandemic has awakened sportswear brands to the necessity of building up the community attributes of sports brands, which can help to enhance brand stickiness and to stay connected with consumers during times of special events when physical stores and offline campaign are on hold. For instance, New Balance responded to the fast-growing population of runners in China with the grand unveiling of its first global running concept store in Shanghai to provide lovers of running with a place to communicate and connect with each other.

PROSPECTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Winter Olympics to accelerate sportswear brand deployment in winter sports

The winter sports market is heating up along with the approach of the 2022 Winter Olympics, paving the way for winter sportswear. Winter sports were not previously as popular as common sports activities such as basketball and football, given the limitation on venues and equipment.

Brands to capitalise on greater demand for outdoor activities

Lockdowns and travel restrictions have been driving Chinese consumers turn to the outdoors for leisure and recreation, fuelling demand for outdoor activities, amongst which camping was especially trendy in 2021, when young consumers were keen to reconnect with nature but without too much travel. Therefore, after the sales slump suffered during COVID-19, players in outdoor apparel and footwear ushered in new opportunities and kept gaining share by exploiting the camping trend.