Sporting goods manufacturer Adidas wants to address its problems in the Chinese market with a greater focus on local conditions. The company is planning more patriotic product lines for the People’s Republic, combining international design with traditional Chinese culture. Adidas plans to design at least 30 percent of the clothing it sells in China locally by next year, country manager Adrian Siu told the Financial Times (FT) newspaper. Before the crisis, the proportion was in the low single-digit percentage range.
On top of that, Adidas plans to expand cooperation with Chinese athletes and to shift a larger part of the production to China in order to be able to react more quickly to fashion trends. According to experts, this could drive up labor costs, according to the “FT”. Labor costs are higher in China than in Vietnam, Indonesia or Cambodia.
In addition to high inflation and the abrupt end of the cooperation with US rapper Kanye West, Adidas recently also had to deal with problems in China. Like its competitors Nike and Puma, the company had long suffered from the Chinese government’s strict corona policy, which weighed on consumption. In addition, there has been tension between the Western world and China over human rights for some time, which has already led to calls for a boycott of Western brands in the country. In addition, competition from Chinese clothing brands is growing. Not least because of the China problems, Adidas is threatened with an operating loss in the current year. (dpa)