ASICS gears up for China expansion

With the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics drawing near, Japanese sportswear maker ASICS brought diverse products to the World Winter Sports (Beijing) Expo 2019, held from Oct 17 to 20, to accelerate the rapid development of China's winter sports industry.

Not only products designed for winter sports, but also professional outdoor equipment from Haglofs, acquired by ASICS in 2010, were shown at the expo, said Hilda Chan, executive officer of ASICS Corporate and director of ASICS China Trading.

The snow and ice sports sector has also seen momentum in the run-up to the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.

China is expected to see more than 300 million people involved in winter sports by 2022.

"Since its establishment, ASICS has been committed to helping the global sports industry prosper with quality products and excellent services, and innovating to enhance athletes' competitive performance," Chan said. "Technological innovation has always made ASICS a core driving force in the highlands of the industry."

According to Chan, the ASICS Institute of Sport Science was officially established in Kobe, Japan in 1990 to support the brand's innovation.

"Over the past 20 years, the ISS has launched a number of technological products such as Kayano, Metarun and Metaride, helping more people to enjoy sports in novel ways," Chan said.

"The Chinese market is dynamic, and its pace of change is very fast," Chan added. "We believe the ISS in Kobe may not keep up with a fastgrowing market like China."

In order to make inroads into the Chinese market and create comfortable and trendy sports equipment for Chinese consumers, ASICS established a product development and design center in China in 2019, she said.

ASICS has also carried out several projects, such as tennis training camps for Chinese teenagers to support development of sports in China.

In 2016, ASICS established partnership with the Chinese national triathlon team to help to improve their performance, Chan said.

"As a leader and pioneer in the field of running, ASICS has continued to promote running in China and has sponsored the Wuxi Marathon and the Xi'an International Marathon," she added.

Such ongoing efforts are echoing the country's plans to boost development of the sports industry.

Inspired by increasing public sports participation, China has pledged to promote fitness and sports consumption through a plan issued by the State Council, China's cabinet, in September.

The plan is set to encourage sports consumption and optimized the sports consumption environment to support innovative development of the sporting goods manufacturing industry.

ASICS has observed the rise of sports and leisure lifestyle in China and is keen to actively serve the needs of Chinese youth, Chan said.

"Constant innovation can provide Chinese consumers with more choices outside the sports field," she added. "ASICS has already cooperated with fashion designers Kiko Kostadinov and Vivienne Westwood to launch a variety of shoes with both trendy designs and technologies to make hipsters release their individuality."