The countdown has begun for the 2026 Milan–Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, which will officially open on February 6.
In the Chinese market, the ice-and-snow boom sparked by the Beijing Winter Olympics has not cooled. Nationwide enthusiasm has been transformed into sustained consumer momentum, propelling winter sports in China from an Olympic-driven phenomenon into an important niche market with long-term growth potential.
According to data from the General Administration of Sport of China, during the 2024–2025 winter season, the number of people participating in ice and snow sports nationwide reached 292 million. Consumer spending driven by ice and snow sports exceeded RMB 187.5 billion (approx. USD 26.3 billion), while total spending at ski resorts nationwide reached RMB 78.613 billion (approx. USD 11.0 billion).
Luxe.CO has observed that, as a new edition of the Winter Olympics ushers in fresh growth opportunities, sports and outdoor brands have fully kicked off their snow-season marketing campaigns in China. From Chongli and Songhua Lake to Changbai Mountain, brand presences are active across major domestic ski resorts. From professional equipment showcases and celebrity collaborations to immersive experiences, dynamic marketing initiatives are blossoming both on and off the slopes.
I. Seizing the Spotlight of Sports Marketing Through Event Partnerships
Sports events have long been prime advertising platforms for sports and outdoor brands to showcase themselves. Taking the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics as an example, the International Olympic Committee reported that global viewership exceeded 2 billion. Major international events such as the Winter Olympics not only offer enormous exposure, but official partnerships with the IOC or national teams also serve as powerful endorsements of brand credibility.
For this Winter Olympics, brands are penetrating the event ecosystem through partnerships at multiple levels.
Official Winter Olympics partnerships:
Salomon serves as a Senior Partner of the Milan Winter Olympics and Paralympics, providing official uniforms for organising committee staff and volunteers, making it the highest-tier sports and outdoor brand sponsor of these Winter Olympics. Decathlon acts as the IPC Official Clothing Supplier for the Winter Paralympics.
Uniforms for staff and volunteers of the Milan Winter Olympics and Paralympics created by Salomon
National team and delegation partnerships:
Li-Ning has become the Official Sportswear Partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee and has jointly released the medal ceremony outfits for the Chinese sports delegation at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics. Moncler, Lululemon, and 66°North, respectively, serve as official partners of the Brazilian, Canadian, and Icelandic Olympic Committees.
Li-Ning and the Chinese Olympic Committee jointly release the medal ceremony outfits for the Chinese sports delegation at the Milan Winter Olympics
Specific discipline partnerships:
ANTA serves as a partner to 10 Chinese national teams, including short track speed skating, speed skating, curling, bobsleigh, and others. DESCENTE is the partner of the Chinese National Snowboard Halfpipe Team and the Chinese National Alpine Ski Team. FILA is the partner of the Chinese National Freestyle Skiing Aerials Team. Kappa provides competition equipment for the U.S. National Ski Team.
Other winter sports event partnerships:
The Freeride World Tour (FWT) has launched a new season in Altay, Xinjiang. MAMMUT continues to serve as the event’s “Avalanche Safety Sponsor,” while KAILAS is a Senior Partner.
DESCENTE, together with ski equipment brand ATOMIC, has independently created the Alpine Racing Open, a professional alpine skiing competition, which has already been held at Songhua Lake Ski Resort and Beidahu Ski Resort.
DESCENTE × ATOMIC Alpine Racing Open
Other institutional collaborations:
PELLIOT, a brand from China, signed a global cooperation agreement with the International Federation for Cinema and Television Sport (FICTS), becoming its Global Official Partner and Exclusive Equipment Sponsor. The two parties will deepen cooperation around this Winter Olympics and the promotion of Olympic culture.
II. The Winter Olympics as a Key Moment for Sports Brands to Showcase Technological Capabilities
For sports brands, investment in major events is not only about image exposure, but also about whether they can continuously advance product innovation at the competitive level, test in-house R&D capabilities, and support their industry position and “professional” narrative through real-world performance.
As Chinese consumers become increasingly mature in their demand for sports and outdoor products, with more rational and stringent evaluations of performance, the Winter Olympics has become an unmissable milestone for brands to demonstrate technological prowess to the Chinese market.
As one of the most important sponsors of the Chinese national team for this Winter Olympics, Li-Ning has launched an intensive communication campaign alongside the release of competition gear, further strengthening the brand’s association with the Games and amplifying its professional image.
Li-Ning created the “Jidi Taikongcang (Literally translated as Polar Space Capsule)” pop-up installation at Taikoo Li Sanlitun in Beijing, where the medal ceremony outfits for the Chinese sports delegation at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics were transformed into a giant art installation. For the first time, the full set of Winter Olympics medal outfits and the brand’s core functional technology system were presented to the public. Recently, Li-Ning also signed China’s first Winter Olympic champion, Yang Yang, as a brand ambassador.
As a long-term partner of the Winter Sports Management Centre of the General Administration of Sport of China, ANTA held a launch event for competition equipment for 10 Chinese national winter sports teams at Beijing Capital Gymnasium, inviting short track speed skating Olympic champion Wu Dajing and speed skating Olympic champion Zhang Hong to interpret the products and technologies.
DESCENTE held a uniform handover ceremony for Chinese national teams at its newly opened global flagship store, “City of the Future.” The 1,600-square-meter store at Beijing China Central Place is also built around skiing as its core narrative.
At the FIS Freestyle Skiing Aerials World Cup held in Chongli at the start of the 2025 season, FILA unveiled the competition uniforms for the Chinese National Freestyle Skiing Aerials Team, featuring the latest “FILA 4810 Lingfeng Technology.” The brand also released a themed documentary, Climbing the Peak, Creating New Heights (directly translated), showcasing the behind-the-scenes co-development process with the national team.
In addition, many brands have released their latest professional equipment ahead of the Winter Olympics. Examples include Salomon’s revival of its high-performance Équipe ski series after more than a decade, and MAMMUT’s launch of the Eiger Extreme 6.0 series designed for high-mountain freeride scenarios.
III. From Ski Resort Parties and Celebrity Collaborations to Co-branded Products, Amplifying Visibility Beyond Professional Arenas
Competition in the ice-and-snow sector has extended from the podium to sports experiences and lifestyle scenarios that mass consumers can directly engage with.
A large number of brands have entered ski resorts to carry out lively marketing activities. Burton, sponsor of equipment for the Chinese National Snowboard Big Air and Slopestyle Teams, and TANBOER, sponsor of ski apparel for the Chinese National Nordic Combined Team, have hosted ski parties at destinations such as Chongli, Songhua Lake, Changbai Mountain, and Jiangjun Mountain in Altay.
TANBOER pop-up space and ski community event at Genting Resort Secret Garden, Chongli
Offline spaces and community activities such as the MAMMUT Life – Songhua Lake Opening Festival, the ARC’TERYX Songhua Lake Ski Touring Experience Centre, and DESCENTE’s “It All Starts with Skiing • Actionist Club Ski Training Camp” have appeared one after another. At the “Tmall Flying Airport” slow pop-up space in Genting Resort Secret Garden, brands including Li-Ning, DESCENTE, UTO, GORE-TEX, Phenix, and Burton all showcased their winter collections.
ARC’TERYX Songhua Lake Ski Touring Experience Centre
DESCENTE “Urban Ski Training Ground” at MixC Shenyang
Alongside on-site ski resort exposure, some brands have further amplified their communication impact through celebrity collaborations, documentaries, and advertising films.
Burton released the documentary Dear Rider, telling the founder’s story to inspire snowboarders.
BOGNER created a limited-time immersive “Champion Garden” space at Songhua Lake, showcasing the brand’s early professional competition suits custom-made for Olympic athletes. Legendary German ski champions Viktoria Rebensburg and Markus Wasmeier, along with China’s rising national ski champion Xu Mingfu, were invited to share their ski resort stories.
BOGNER “Champion Garden” experience space at Songhua Lake
HELLY HANSEN held the “Ride the Snow, Reach Further (directly translated)” winter season gala at Wanlong Ski Resort in Chongli, with numerous celebrity friends in attendance. Global brand ambassador Wang Yibo starred in the advertising film Wind and Snow Accompanied, Exploration Never Stops for the new H2BLK professional alpine ski wear series.
HELLY HANSEN promotional film “Wind and Snow Accompanied, Exploration Never Stops”
MONCLER invited brand ambassador and World Cup alpine skiing champion Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, as well as Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim, to the Alps to shoot advertising visuals for its Autumn/Winter high-performance apparel collection.
From left to right: supermodel Amber Valletta, snowboard champion Chloe Kim, alpine skiing champion Lucas Pinheiro Braathen
In terms of cross-industry co-branding, examples include Salomon collaborating with street culture brand SLAM JAM on snowboards and ski boots, and partnering with Peet’s Coffee to create ski resort cafés; The North Face teaming up with popular American shapewear brand SKIMS to launch a co-branded ski apparel collection; and Oakley releasing the Su Yiming signature edition OAKLEY LINE MINER snow goggles.
Su Yiming signature edition OAKLEY LINE MINER snow goggles
The Winter Olympics are pushing ice-and-snow enthusiasm in the Chinese market to new heights. At this once-every-four-years critical marketing moment, both professionalism on the field and exposure and participation off the field are key KPIs for sports and outdoor brands in shaping their future. This “snowball fight” is set to become ever more exciting.
丨Image Credit: www.olympics.com, official brand Weibo and Xiaohongshu accounts
丨Editor: Zhu Ruoyu
