“We realised there was growing consumer demand in China for fashion and individual style,” said Li Ling, vice-president of Anta Sports.

By embracing the latest trends, much appreciated by the young generations in China, and collaborating with internationally renowned designers, Fila has made a name for itself on the Chinese market, where consumers are unlikely to identify the label with the struggling one of a dozen years ago.

According to Yao Weixiong, president of Fila Greater China, Anta Sports designers regularly travel to the Fila museum in Biella, Italy, where the label was founded and over 100,000 sketches and product samples are archived. “Our designers are inspired by Fila’s hundred-year-plus history, and they then create collections featuring the kind of style appreciated by Chinese consumers,” said Yao.

According to international market research firm Euromonitor

Anta Sports’s headquarters are located in Jinjiang, a city in eastern China’s Fujian province that is renowned as the “world’s largest manufacturing hub for trainers,” where 40% of China’s trainers output, and 20% of the whole world’s, is produced. To ensure manufacturing efficiency, Fila has set up its own production facilities in Jinjiang.

“The company will continue to expand thanks to Fujian’s solid sportswear supply chain, and will continue to collaborate with an enlarged R&D office, aiming to satisfy growing demand by Chinese consumers, whose standards of living keep on improving,” concluded Li Ling.