Chinese sports brands see bumper 2022

FUZHOU -- Major Chinese sports enterprises such as Anta, Xtep and Li-Ning enjoyed considerable growth in 2022, according to annual financial results released in recent days.

Anta's full-year revenue rose 8.8 percent year-on-year to 53.65 billion yuan, with annual revenue exceeding 50 billion yuan for the first time in the company's history.

Anta remains on top of China's sporting goods industry for the 11th straight year. The number of Anta employees rose by 7,000 in the past year, and the company is to hire 25,000 more in 2023.

The Beijing Olympic Winter Games was a major growth point for Anta in 2022. As a sponsor of the Games, Anta provided products for 12 Chinese national winter sports teams. The brand benefited from this link with a greater number of consumers purchasing their products.

"With further support for private enterprises from our country, the rapid recovery of the sports industry and the steady development of the economy, we are more confident in our goal of high-quality development," said Ding Shizhong, chairman and CEO of Anta Sports.

Xtep International achieved revenue of 12.93 billion yuan, up 29.1 percent year-on-year. The company has been focusing on running shoes in recent years. In September 2022, Xtep announced the new goal of producing "world-class Chinese running shoes". The brand continued sponsoring marathon events last year and their running clubs have attracted 1.7 million participants.

"In the next 10 years, Xtep will invest five billion yuan to promote the running industry in China," said Ding Shuibo, president of Xtep.

The revenue of Li-Ning increased by 14.3 percent to 25.8 billion yuan. Li-Ning has focused on sports such as basketball, running, fitness and badminton. The number of domestic Li-Ning retail stores has reached 6295, 360 more than in 2021.

"We believe there is still a lot of room for the development of the Chinese sports market," said Li Ning, founder of the company that bears his name. "We will keep improving our product to better meet the needs of our consumers."