In March and April 2024, Luxe.CO Intelligence covered a total of 671 brand activities of 464 sports and outdoor brands in the Chinese market.
According to this, Luxe.CO Intelligence specially selected the three most noteworthy dimensions for industry attention: brand building, community interaction, and store channels. For each dimension, the TOP 2 cases were selected, totaling 6 TOP cases bi-monthly, along with exclusive commentary. These dimensions and dynamics also indirectly reflect the current efforts and development trends of sports and outdoor brands and industries. (Note: The order of the cases is arbitrary)
1. Brand Building TOP Cases
1) ARC’TERYX released a documentary “The Road to Her Mountain,” featuring actress Wen Qi, mountaineer Luo Jing, and designer Long Hongziwei, who wore the KADIN HOODY women’s softshell jacket to explore the ancient Tea Horse Road in Yunnan. Additionally, ARC’TERYX made a donation to the China Women’s Development Foundation to set up heritage courses on Dai ethnic weaving in Yunnan.
Luxe.CO Insights:
Since 2012, ARC’TERYX has been sharing outdoor knowledge, skills, and experiences through its “Mountain Classroom” project and inviting professionals to offer outdoor courses to its members. In 2019, ARC’TERYX formally introduced the Mountain Classroom to China.
While promoting the recognition and dissemination of professional knowledge in skiing, rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, and hiking in China, ARC’TERYX has also produced documentaries like “The Pass” and “Mountain Snow Way,” deeply exploring the alignment between outdoor enthusiasts and the brand’s philosophy and spirit.
However, unlike the usual professional outdoor and male-dominated content, “The Road to Her Mountain” features three women who are not entirely from professional outdoor backgrounds. They are young actresses and emerging directors, designers, and brand founders, and even record-holding Chinese female mountaineers from urban white-collar backgrounds.
These three real and vibrant women represent a broad spectrum of female demographics. Whether facing challenges or searching for self-identity, they enable more female consumers to find qualities they resonate with, fostering a deeper connection between female users and the brand’s ethos during their outdoor explorations.
2) ON collaborated with endorsed athlete Miao Hao and veteran musician MAI to create a 30-minute running music track “Energize Your Run,” which was released on limited edition vinyl and on the NetEase Cloud Music platform.
Luxe.CO Insights:
In recent years, running shoes have become a central focus for sports brands to enhance their positioning. ON has stated that increasing its market share in the running sector, brand recognition within communities, and product reliability are the strategic cornerstones for its next phase of growth.
Just in April, ON organized nearly 20 running-themed community events in cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Nanjing, and Suzhou.
By creating sports communities in physical stores and establishing partnerships with local running clubs, ON continuously ignites runners’ passion and has cultivated its own running culture. This newly created running music aims to encourage more people to experience running while utilizing scientific musical tools to help runners focus and improve their running efficiency. This approach helps to embed ON’s running culture more deeply among a broader audience.
2. Community Interaction TOP Cases
1) Anta hosted the 2024 Mach Game Speed Limit Challenge at the Shanghai International Racetrack, gathering 18 elite running groups under red and green light game rules, allowing runners to experience the Anta Mach 4 running shoes during the team relay race.
Luxe.CO Insights:
Currently, both domestic and international sports brands are experiencing intense competition in the Chinese running shoe market and are investing heavily in product innovation and development. Anta is no exception.
Over the past year, Anta has been vigorously pushing its presence in the running domain, signing “the king of long-distance running” Kenenisa Bekele, hosting the “Anta C202 Elite Training Camp,” and penetrating core running circles while intensifying its efforts on professional running shoes.
Anta’s running shoe matrix is now very comprehensive and professional, with the Mach 4 being a key product for competitive training.
Unlike ordinary running events, Anta uses key features of the Mach 4 running shoes and takes advantage of the racetrack’s curved terrain and setting at the Shanghai International Racetrack to integrate game rules like “sudden stops,” “gear changes,” and “acceleration” into the challenge, allowing runners to deeply experience the product features in a game setting, thus creating a more robust perception and memory of the product for the users.
2) Asics opened its first offline sports space in Beijing called “Active Space,” comprising a “brand display area,” “product experience zone,” and “running culture exchange area.” In the future, Asics will also link the online “Asics Active Camp” to complete the Asics RUN+ Active community chain.
Luxe.CO Insights:
As one of the top four slow-running shoe brands globally, Asics has been prominent among professional runners since it introduced its first marathon shoe in 1951.
Running remains core to Asics’ growth. In September 2021, Asics opened its first sports experience space in China at Shanghai Taikoo Li Qiantan, staffed with professional running consultants and equipped with professional running posture analysis tools, strengthening the brand’s professional image while serving runners.
The new Beijing Active Space, located near the Olympic Forest Park and away from busy commercial areas, does not carry traditional retail functions. Often referred to as “Beijing’s running holy land,” the Olympic Forest Park is a popular running spot for many. Asics uses this offline space, supported by rich community activities, to engage more purely with runners, helping the running community find a sense of belonging and motivating more people to get active and improve their physical and mental health, embodying the brand’s ethos derived from the ancient Roman saying Anima Sana In Corpore Sano, meaning “a healthy mind in a healthy body.”
3. Store Channel TOP Cases
1) Anta opened its first sustainable concept store on Wukang Road, Shanghai—the Anta Zero Carbon Mission Store. This store features a new green logo, offering not only Anta’s existing sustainable products but also exclusive sustainable products developed specifically for this store.
Luxe.CO Insights:
According to Anta Group’s financial report, as of June 2023, Anta had nearly 7,000 stores.
In August 2023, Anta launched a new concept sneaker store, “ANTA SNEAKERVERSE,” and now, a sustainable concept store has been opened. It’s evident that Anta is not continuing to open “mega-stores” but is gradually introducing a variety of unique “small” stores. This aligns with the new retail strategy announced by Anta’s CEO, Xu Yang: to enhance the sales performance of niche markets by reorganizing channel and store planning.
Sports and outdoor consumers are among the closest to nature and most supportive of sustainable living. Over the past few years, sports brands have increasingly invested in sustainability—launching sustainable products, organizing mountain cleaning events, and developing sustainable materials. This has provided consumers with numerous but scattered messages about brands’ sustainability initiatives.
This time, Anta has boldly and concretely presented its commitment to sustainability through a single store, bringing its behind-the-scenes efforts to the forefront. This store showcases Anta’s long-term investment and changes surrounding sustainability issues, integrating sustainable concepts more broadly into product design and production processes, and further promoting the scaling of sustainable fashion products.
2) Nike’s Jordan brand opened the fourth global and the first in China World of Flight store, which is the brand’s newest and highest standard store format and Jordan’s first company-operated store in the Chinese market. The store also features the global debut of the first non-collaborative luxury trendy collection, the Jordan Wings Collection.
Luxe.CO Insights:
For brands, neither “halo” nor “bonus” is permanent. A brand based on athlete IP must consider how to remain memorable and loved by a broad consumer base and the next generation of young consumers over a longer term, and even maintain growth—these are fundamental questions that such brands need to address.
Instead of continuing to amplify and market classic IPs, it is notable that in this new store, detailed information about Michael Jordan himself does not dominate. Beyond basketball, the Jordan brand is also venturing into diverse sports scenarios and is increasingly focusing on women’s and children’s wear.
Most notably, the store’s global debut of the Jordan Wings Collection series moves beyond traditional sports and refines the use of Jordan’s IP core under a luxury trendy positioning. By employing entirely Italian manufacturing processes, it elevates the brand’s prestige and attempts to push the brand towards a more upscale market.
| Video, Photo Credit: Provided by the brand, Official Brand Channels
