'New national products' gain more respect, get new lease on life

Future landscape

Long recognized as a manufacturing powerhouse, China, which has a distinct culture and massive consumer market, has benefited from many years of producing goods for foreign brands.

That's because the country's designers have been subconsciously influenced by their clients, which has fed into the rise of new national products, insiders said.

The facts speak for themselves. In the first half year of the year, sales of certain domestic sports brands outstripped some international brands.

In August, for example, Anta Sportswear's first half report showed that revenue had exceeded 22.8 billion yuan, meaning that it had outperformed Adidas, whose revenue in China was about 18.3 billion yuan in the same period.

The company, based in the eastern province of Fujian, has also managed to narrow the gap with Nike, which earned 27.3 billion yuan in the first half according to its own reports.

The new national products boom has also attracted the attention of the central government, which plans to expand the sector into a more innovative industry with higher added value.

Since the 1990s, Fujian has incubated most of the domestic sports brands, such as Anta and Erke.

It has highlighted the development of the sports market in its plan for the next five years, focusing on high-quality manufacturing.

In a plan released in July, it emphasized that the production of cotton, apparel and shoes, especially sports shoes, are key areas that will attract greater official investment in the next five years.

In an interview with Fujian Daily in September, Ding Shizhong, Anta's CEO and chairman of the board of directors, said Chinese civilization and culture provide a sound background for the development of new national products, which have been created with modern technology and new materials.

"It's not vintage fashion, but it carries forward the good parts of the culture and innovation," he said.

Ding added that during the next five years, Anta will invest more than 4 billion yuan in the research and development of sports goods to strengthen its ability to innovate.

"The whole landscape of China's sports market is changing, and Fujian is on the front line of that reformation," he said.

"We've continued to transform our company into a high-tech one from the traditional factory system and helped to push forward the reshaping of the nation's sports market."