Sportswear giant Adidas is targeting China and women’s football as well as highlighting female empowerment through a collaboration with Shanghai-based fashion designer Shuting Qiu.
The 11-piece co-branded collection, developed over a period of two years, will be formally launched at the Adidas flagship store in Shanghai on 30 July. Among local KOLs (key opinion leaders) and influencers expected to attend are Leaf Greener, fashion blogger Nikki Min and actor Ma Sichun.
Adidas, which has supported the development of football in China for many years, has launched a major marketing drive to mark the ongoing Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (20 July–20 August).
Star players featured include Germany’s Lena Oberdorf, England’s Alessia Russo and Australia’s Mary Fowler, alongside major male names such as David Beckham and Lionel Messi as well as actor and super-fan Jenna Ortega.
The campaign has already generated $2.8 million in media impact value (MIV). Tech and social data analytics provider Launchmetrics found that Ortega (worth $782,000 in MIV) was the top placement.
Sports have proven fertile ground for fashion collaborations, and partnerships are expanding. Nike is working with designer Martine Rose on a collection of genderless tailoring to debut during the women’s World Cup and retail from selected Nike stores from 27 July. LVMH announced this week that it’s sponsoring the 2024 Paris Olympics.
For China specifically, Adidas launched a China edition of its new football boots line, X Crazyfast, on the eve of the tournament. Now the company has tapped Shuting Qiu, a 28-year-old designer born in Hangzhou and based in Shanghai, to attract the country’s fashion cohorts. Patrick Ng, head of product at Adidas China, says she was chosen for her ability to surprise through her “collision of aesthetics”, calling Qiu “one of China’s pioneering fashion designers”.
The new line includes an asymmetric dress, a skirt with concealed pleats and track pants as well as football tops and various T-shirts retailing from RMB 299 to RMB 999 (£32 to £108). A standout is a reinterpretation of the classic Tiro zipped jacket — “a must-have product for football culture lovers in Europe”, according to Ng. It features Adidas’s signature stripes in black on contrasting floral prints depicting Shuting Qiu’s signature undefined flower inspired by traditional Chinese opera costumes.
Shuting Qiu’s domestic breakthrough
Shuting Qiu founded her label in 2018 shortly after graduating from the Royal Academy in Antwerp. The brand quickly drew industry recognition for its artisanal craft approach, experimental silhouettes and eye-catching colour palettes. It already has a number of partnerships under its belt: Autumn/Winter 2023 saw a deal with Smiley — the iconic face was emblazoned across silk jacquards or embroidered on contrasting prints. A collaboration with Ugg (with a 70 per cent sell-through) was launched in December 2022, with a second drop planned for the first quarter of 2024.
The new collection with Adidas is already available online and in more than 200 stores across China. “There’s a very strong retail chain behind this and a big run, so now I can reach more consumers,” says Qiu, who had free reign in the design process and enjoyed being taken out of her comfort zone. “I’ve never done sportswear before,” she says. “It’s also been a great way for me to expand my product category. This will keep my existing fans happy too.”
Jenny Zhang, strategy director at marketing agency Tong, is impressed by the collaboration with its refreshing “aesthetic twist” authentically rooted in a grassroots sport. “As Qiu is an emerging designer with a cult following, I think it’s a tactical play that will make a statement,” she says. “It offers some substance beyond the surface and will appeal to active yet style-conscious consumers.”
Adidas seeks to restore growth in China
Adidas operates more than 8,000 stores in China, but its business has faced multiple well-documented problems, including the after-effects of the Xinjiang cotton boycott, Covid-19 lockdowns, disrupted supply chains and general inventory issues. These weighed on Adidas’s results in 2022, with sales in Greater China down by 36 per cent year-on-year on a currency-neutral basis. The negative impact from inventory write-offs, significantly higher discounting and higher supply chain costs was not offset by positive currency and pricing effects. Also presenting a challenge for Adidas is the rise of local brands. Zhang of Tong cites sportswear companies Anta and Li-Ning as “tough competition”.
In an earnings presentation in March, Adidas CFO Harm Ohlmeyer reported better progress in China in the first two months of 2023. New CEO Bjørn Gulden, who joined Adidas on 1 January, also retains high expectations for China and indicates that he has been leaning on the expertise of local management.
Collaborations and localised products are instrumental to Adidas plans for China, notes Arnold Ma, CEO of marketing agency Qumin. “According to Xiao Jiale, managing director of Adidas Greater China, the brand is set to bring out more creations in collaboration with more Chinese artists and designers. Xiao has also stated that the percentage of “China Create” products will increase from 10 to 30 per cent over the next three years,” says Ma.
In November 2022, Adidas signed an agreement with the Chinese Literature and Art Foundation for a three-year partnership to promote Chinese culture and sport in China and overseas. Recent collaborations include with artist Zhang Quan (who owns Melting Sadness, a brand), ceramicist Yi Ran and artist Han Meilin for a 2023 Lunar New Year edition.
Football fever on the rise in China
Women’s football has been gathering momentum in China in recent years. The Weibo hashtag 2023 Women’s World Cup has received 495 million views and 45,000 engagements from 2,000 posts.
China’s 23-player squad, known as the Steel Roses, sits in Group D (with England, Denmark and Haiti), and currently ranks 14th in the Fifa women’s rankings under its first female coach, Shui Qingxia. China are AFC Women’s Asian Cup champions — a title they’ve won nine times.
In July, Prada announced a partnership deal that will continue beyond the World Cup. The launch announcement generated $4 million earned media value (EMV) on Weibo and Xiaohongshu (also know as Little Red Book), with an estimated 47 million impressions on the hashtag #Prada这次找对人了 (loosely translated as #Pradagottherightguythistime, in reference to Cai Xukun’s recent morality scandal), according to influencer marketing platform Lefty.
The new Adidas campaign aligns with the ongoing popularity of the blokecore trend in China, says Patrick Ng. “Shuting’s design style creates a sporty and casual Blokecore style for women that is more relevant, fits better and is aesthetically appealing for everyday wear.”
