Exclusive | How Adidas captured the hearts of Chinese millennials with the Yeezy shoe
- With domestic rivals snapping at heels, big international sports brands forced to up game in market where millennials willing to spend big on premium trainers
China is the running-shoe factory of the world and the second largest sportswear market globally.
In the past, the big international sports brands like Nike and Adidas were the dominant forces, able to charge top whack for their constantly evolving trainers while copycat local brands played catch-up.
But nowadays, the small domestic firms are snapping at the heels of their bigger rivals, managing to emulate their latest technologies and designs more quickly and efficiently, and gaining in popularity. Their growing market share has forced the more established players to up their game and innovate in a market where millennials – people aged 23 to 38 – are willing to spend big on premium consumer goods.
German sportswear giant Adidas managed to pull this off in spectacular fashion in recent years with its Yeezy footwear range, a collaboration with the American rapper Kanye West.
Unlike older generations, millennials are more heavily influenced by what they consider to be cool than by brand names or product pricing
The limited edition Yeezy collections went viral among mainland China’s youth, despite the eyewatering price tag of US$200 upwards.