Why is the future of sneaker culture being written in China? Li-Ning and Anta's growth could threaten adidas and Nike's hegemony

No matter how much history they've already written behind them, adidas and Nike's supremacy in Chinese sneaker culture may be coming to an end. According to Jing Daily this year, the market value of the Chinese brand Anta is already $64 billion. That, compared to the $74.37 billion corresponding to the market value of adidas, suggests how much ground the Made in China brand has rapidly gained, in addition, the problems caused by the pandemic to the sneaker industry's supply chain combined with China's policies are changing the global balance established for centuries. The speed with which China is moving in its development strategies is unquestionable. Indeed, almost shocking if we consider that between adidas, Nike and the two Chinese competitors Anta and Li-Ning, almost half a century of history has passed. While in 1949 Adolf Dassler founded adidas and 15 years later Bill Bowerman founded Nike under the name Blue Ribbon Sports, China was about to enter what has remained in history as the bloody decade of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). As Juanjuan Wu explains in Chinese Fashion: From Mao to Now, "fashion was not suppressed during the Cultural Revolution. It did, however, adopt a different mask, certainly not painted in vibrant colors." The power grip of the then leader of the Chinese Communist Party tacitly guided the people toward so-called pǔsù 朴素, sobriety. Far from the Western world-where Nike and adidas relentlessly experimented with innovative colors and materials to pair with athletes' technical performance-China instead came to terms with what it could and could not wear.

Finally, to the detriment of the sales of Nike and adidas in China (but also of many other fashion houses) there has recently been a political factor: the protest over cotton from the XinJiang region. The denunciation that Western media exposed last March against China is based on the forced labor to which the ethnic minority of the Uighurs who work in the cotton fields in XinJiang would be subjected. And because it is "difficult to find out the truth" (quoting Mimi Lau's headline for the South China Morning Post), many Western companies have stopped buying Chinese cotton from the area. In response, the Chinese have boycotted Western brands, Nike and adidas included. The obvious consequence? Jing Daily confirms that Li-Ning's profit increased by 4.2% (quantifiable at $2.2 billion). A non-random preference, undoubtedly motivated by the desire to wear Made in China brands that reflect patriotic and nationalist values. A preference that closes the circle and confirms the thesis: what if the future of sneaker culture was written in China?