Post by Ted Hopkins

China is the world's largest real-time lab for consumer brands. "You don't know China if you're not here every day," Robbie Fuller, Creative Director Footwear, FILA CHINA: Robbie has spent 10 years at Anta. He wasn't talking about managing a brand. He was talking about the speed of trends, innovation and product creation. Ten years ago, Chinese brands won on speed and cost. International brands could simply ship what they were selling elsewhere to the market. Today, you have to be here, you have to test here. Localization, speed, quality, materials, storytelling, retail, data, and brand all matter. Some big takeaways: → Anta Group has roughly 30%+ of China's sportswear market. One in three consumers is wearing something from the portfolio. → Product cycles that once took years can move from his drawing to the shelf in roughly six months, with AI compressing parts of the process even further. → Design, materials, and quality standards in Chinese companies have risen dramatically over the past decade. The aesthetic and quality gap in sportswear has closed. Robbie's advice to every global sportswear CEO: → Stop benchmarking China against your home market. → You don't know China. Let your China team run. These are general notes, I'll break further insights from the session into specific audience categories. Join the next session and ask the experts direct! I'll post more soon! Thanks to The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (AmCham Shanghai) and the retail committee team! Carol Zhou Jessica Wu #PrivateEquity #China #Retail #SocialCommerce #KulturShift #Supercycle