Known as the "world's supermarket", Yiwu, a small city in China's Zhejiang Province, supplies an estimated 2.1 million kinds of goods to 233 countries and regions. The world's largest wholesale market for small commodities, which is also well known for its large market share of global Christmas decorations, has recently kicked into World Cup mode. Nearly 70% of the production of World Cup-related merchandise is located in Yiwu, according to data from the Yiwu Sports Goods Association. This shift comes even as the excitement for this particular edition of the World Cup is being shaped more and more by commercial and economic calculations.

Patents and licensing move competition beyond just price

Many companies moved early to apply for design patents and secure official IP licenses from national teams and football clubs, in a bid to compete on more than just price. Official data shows that Yiwu registered 1,546 new intellectual property customs filings in 2025, up 29.05% year on year.

To meet growing demand from merchants, local authorities have even set up an intellectual property service center inside the Yiwu International Trade Market, offering 34 one-stop services ranging from patent applications and trademark registration to overseas rights protection.

Quality and speed reshape the supply chain

Analysis of consumer goods suggests that the role of "Made in China" in sports merchandise is evolving — shifting from a low-cost manufacturing base to a supply network built around consistent quality and rapid response.

The Financial Times writes that industrial strategies in many countries often lack the "long-term and holistic approach" seen in China. Complex regulations, higher energy costs, shortages of skilled labor and slower infrastructure development continue to weigh on competitiveness.

Against that backdrop, China's combination of manufacturing scale, production efficiency and accumulated industrial know-how remains difficult to replicate.

Tian Xuan, dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, said that beyond cost advantages, the real strength of China's supply chain lies in its ability to respond quickly to market demand while maintaining large-scale delivery capacity.

Trend-driven consumption fuels the market

Street vendors in Mexico are often among the first to spot which souvenirs football fans want, feeding those signals back to suppliers almost in real time. And a common response from sellers is that Chinese products offer more variety, sell quickly and can be restocked fast, according to a report by Global Times. 

According to Yiwu Customs, exports of sporting goods and equipment from Yiwu reached 11.65 billion yuan ($1.72 billion) in 2025, up 20.3% year on year. In just the first two months of this year, exports had already reached 2.34 billion yuan, an increase of 38.5%. Exports of sporting goods to the US, Canada and Mexico totaled 550 million yuan, up 21.3% from a year earlier.