ANTA Cheering for China and U.S. at Rio 2016

(ATR) China is poised to finish third in the medals standings, giving ANTA Sports’ Champion Dragon outfit high profile exposure on Rio 2016 podiums.

The Fujian, China-based, Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed sportswear and athletic shoe company launched the design in a late June ceremony at the Water Cube, the Beijing 2008 aquatics complex, with various Chinese Olympic gold medalists. The outfit’s DuPont material incorporates fibers from corn and recycled soft drink bottles. Some 31,000 pieces of ANTA clothing, shoes and accessories were provided to China’s sports and media delegation in Rio.

ANTA, the Chinese Olympic Committee supplier since 2009, also launched competition outfits for 10 Chinese national teams: gymnastics, trampoline, weightlifting, wrestling, judo, boxing, taekwondo, rowing, canoeing and water polo. Replicas of Rio 2016 wear for Chinese athletes are available at ANTA’s 7,000 stores in China.

President James Zheng was coy when asked by ATR about the value of the COC deal. "It’s secret, it’s not cheap, but it’s worth it."

Zheng is also cheering for U.S.A. basketball, whose roster includes Golden State Warriors’ star Klay Thompson. Thompson wears ANTA shoes and ANTA is an NBA licensee for the China market.

After Rio, Zheng said ANTA will turn its attention to expansion to North America. It plans a research and development facility on the west coast and plans to export its products to retail outlets.

"We haven’t defined the place, but we are working on this, by the end of the year we will establish this," Zheng said. "We need to really strengthen our research and development side for the sneakers, so it’s important to do that in this kind of innovation centre in the states."

ANTA’s portfolio of brands includes the Chinese licensing of FILA and Descente. The former is outfitting staff of Chinese Olympic rights holding broadcaster CCTV in Rio. The latter is a Japan-based winter sports specialist. Zheng said that while ANTA is looking for opportunities to increase sales and broaden the brand portfolio on the road to Beijing 2022, he doesn’t want to dilute the core products.

"For us, we have a very clear direction for the company, we still want to focus on pro-ducing one pair of shoes, one piece of our clothes," Zheng said. "It is the key task, to provide the best products to meet our consumer needs."

Written by Bob Mackinin Rio de Janeiro

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