Domestic brands become popular in the Olympics. What challenges will the “national trend” face in the future?

Anta’s Olympic medal-winning uniforms, the weightlifting shoes worn by athlete Lu Xiaojun, and the Peak slippers that can be seen everywhere in the Olympic Village… A number of Chinese domestic sports brands frequently appeared at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and became hot searches.

The ability of these domestic brands to compete with overseas brands such as Nike and Adidas at the Olympics is inseparable from their years of efforts in brand promotion and transformation and upgrading effort.

Innovation allows domestic sports brands to frequently “break out of the circle”

Taking Anta’s award-winning uniforms as an example, the person in charge of the company said that they specially invited the famous visual artist Ye Jintian, the winner of the Oscar “Best Art Design Award”, to integrate Chinese traditional cultural elements into it; Anta launched last year The national flag series products use the technology and materials used to sponsor national team equipment and are deeply loved by consumers.

In 2018, Peak’s technical products were launched and became the company’s flagship product with its sole raw materials with “soft elasticity” characteristics. It is understood that Peak spent more than 20 years developing this raw material. Up to now, the sales volume of Peak’s shoes has reached 15 million pairs, and they are exported to more than 100 countries overseas. As for the brand exposure of Peak Sports shoes at the Tokyo Olympics, Xu Jingnan, chairman of the group, said, “It was beyond my expectations.”

At this year’s Olympic Games, Xtep Group provided professional equipment for its contracted athletes Gong Lijiao, Xie Wenjun, Yang Jiayu and others. Zou Xu, Xtep’s brand promotion director, said that in order to ensure fair competition, World Athletics has limited the equipment worn by players. After Xtep learned about the relevant regulations, it actively declared its footwear products. As of the opening of the Olympic Games, a total of four shoes have been certified and entered the permitted list. Zou Xu said that the significance of the certification work is not only that future athletes participating in the Olympics and World Championships will have more choices of Chinese products, but also that domestic companies will integrate with international standards in professional product lines.

Sponsoring various major international and domestic events; cooperating with national teams and some overseas teams to equip them with professional equipment; signing celebrities or athletes as spokespersons; producing joint models with popular IPs… These are the ways for domestic brands to enter the international market. only way. In terms of technological innovation, except for a few powerful leading companies that can set up their own R&D teams, most companies choose to cooperate with other research institutions. Among them are the China Leather and Shoe Industry Research Institute and the China Textile Science Research Institute.

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to Peak’s head office located in Quanzhou City, brands such as Anta and Xtep are all from Jinjiang City, which is under the jurisdiction of Quanzhou. Jinjiang is known as the “Shoe Capital of China” and is one of the largest shoe production areas in the country. In November 2007, Jinjiang, a county-level city, became the third national sports industry base in the country after Shenzhen and Chengdu.

In 2012, the Jinjiang government began to introduce experts from the China Leather and Shoemaking Industry Research Institute and the China Textile Science Research Institute to create tailor-made technical solutions for local footwear and apparel and other physical enterprises. Xu Xingwei, leader of the Jinjiang Municipal Development and Reform Bureau, said: “Let professional people do professional things, and we will not interfere with the specific operations of enterprises. However, in the field of scientific and technological innovation, there is no government support and guarantee. It is very difficult to rely on any one enterprise alone. It is difficult to introduce these experts from Beijing to settle in a county-level city for a long time or even establish a branch.”

In addition to introducing research institutions, the Jinjiang government also actively promotes the development of the sports service industry. Xu Ziyi, a member of the Party Leadership Group of Jinjiang Municipal Sports Bureau, said that the reputation of Anta, 361 Degrees, Xtep and other brands became an important factor when Jinjiang applied to host large-scale events in its early stages. Currently, Jinjiang has applied to host international events such as the 18th World High School Games and the 4th consecutive FISU Football World Cup. This county-level city also holds the China (Jinjiang) International Shoe Industry Expo every year. In 2016, it was upgraded to the International Sports Industry Expo, and its content was expanded to new formats such as e-sports, sports events, and sports tourism. The development of these new formats in turn provides manufacturing The industry brings new technologies, new information, and new opportunities.

The “labor shortage” problem in the sports manufacturing industry needs to be solved

Although the impressive results of the Tokyo Olympics have brought hope to domestic sports brands, long-standing problems in the manufacturing industry still make domestic products full of challenges. Zheng Yexin, general manager of 361 Degrees Brand Business Management Center, said that looking at the current sports manufacturing industry from 361 Degrees itself, he believes that the problems of “labor shortage” and “difficulty in recruiting workers” need to be solved urgently.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics’ “2020 Migrant Workers Monitoring Survey Report”, as the main force of China’s factories, the proportion of migrant workers engaged in manufacturing is 27.3%, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points from the previous year. Among migrant workers, 71.1% hold junior high school education or below. Although the proportion of migrant workers with college education or above increased by 1.1 percentage points compared with the previous year, it is still difficult to meet market demand.

Zheng Yexin pointed out that the manufacturing market has a huge demand for high-quality workers. With the updating and iteration of shoemaking technology and production equipment, factories need more high-quality workers who understand technology. He hopes that the government and relevant colleges and universities can continue to step up efforts in the future.�Strength in cultivating and training talents in this area.

Xu Jingnan, chairman of Peak Group, said that after experiencing the global pandemic of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, coupled with the complex situation abroad, the risks of companies investing in overseas properties have increased. If a complete industrial chain can be formed nearby the enterprise, the enterprise can respond to market demand faster and take more initiative.

Xu Xingwei said that in the future, the Jinjiang government will promote collaborative cooperation among local enterprises to prevent all enterprises from getting together to build brands. “Guide small and medium-sized enterprises to make their respective advantages bigger, stronger, better and more specialized, and better cooperate with each other, just like a bucket, without any shortcomings.”

AAA

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