China's leading shoe brand Anta aims for strong future

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A stigma over fake and counterfeit shoes still haunts parts of China’s Fujian Province. Many world-renowned brands like Nike and Adidas are sold here, at least buyers think so.

But in the city of Jinjiang, Anta has carved out a niche, which in recent years, has become a nationwide network. Anta has spent the last two years as China’s number one shoe seller and experts say they intend to stay on top.

"The consumer is number one here," says Christina Li, Vice President of Anta. "It's been one of our slogans for years."

NBA stars like Klay Thompson wear Anta shoes while playing basketball./CGTN Photo

You'll find them on the feet of NBA star Klay Thompson, Olympians at every summer games, and millions of people across China. And Li says there's no difference between the Anta shoes the pros wear and what's on China's streets.

"We don't make athlete's products just for athletes," Li says. "We take the technology used to make athlete's shoes and transfer that to what anyone else would wear."

And above all, they pride themselves on being the real thing. Each Anta shoe goes through 40 inspection steps after being carefully stitched together by their footwear gurus. The shoes later undergo an extreme series of weather and temperature tests to make sure they’ll last.

Anta shoes nearing completion/CGTN Photo

A pair of their athletic sneakers retails for between 300 and 500 yuan, part of Anta’s mission to remain an affordable brand. They sold 50 million pairs of shoes in China in 2016, and are stepping up business both at home and overseas.

But Anta’s directors say their number one focus is the consumer, and aim to keep them happy with authentic, quality footwear for years to come.

We want to make each of our shoes, each of our sportswear, counted for the consumer; and with high quality, high tech, but with better prices.