Fujian Sports Goods' New Paradigm for Going Global: "One Centimeter Wide, One Kilometer Deep"

Can the “one centimeter wide, one kilometer deep” strategy become a new trend in the industry?

21st Century Business Herald Reporter Dong Jingyi Fuzhou Report

In March in Fuzhou, the sixth China Cross-Border E-Commerce Trade Fair is bustling with people. Data shows that more than 100,000 professional buyers have attended.

The sports equipment booths are particularly lively, with a wide array of products ranging from traditional sports shoes and apparel to professional climbing shoes, from pickleball paddles to small indoor fitness items, all filling the various exhibition stands.

This is a collective appearance of the Fujian sports equipment industry belt. Currently, this industry belt is at a delicate crossroads.

For several decades, this area has supported half of the global sports shoe and apparel market with an extremely sound supply chain. Anta and Xtep have emerged from this land to become household names. However, behind these giants, many more companies stand at the forefront of the supply chain, quietly earning their keep by working as OEMs for international brands.

Now, the situation is changing. At the bottom end of the smile curve, they inevitably face an increasingly fierce competitive environment. Domestic competitors are flocking in, with industrial belts forming in Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Hebei, and price wars becoming more intense; the overseas market is also turbulent, with fluctuating tariffs and shipping costs, gradually squeezing profits.

At this point, simply “producing” is no longer sufficient.

“It’s not about whether you want to change, but market rules dictate that we must change in one direction and accept market education. If you remain unchanged, your business will become increasingly difficult,” said Su Yangbin, founder of Fujian Sanfan Sports Company, to a reporter from the 21st Century Business Herald.

More companies are trying to find their position in the wave of going global. Some are entering niche markets, some are focusing intensely on materials and technology, and others are transforming from OEMs into brand owners. This process is not easy, but it is indeed happening.

Within a Ten-Mile Radius, an Industry

Entering the cross-border trade fair, the products at various sports equipment booths dazzle the eyes, covering nearly all categories of sports products. Behind the richness of products is the complete supply chain accumulated over decades in Fujian’s sports equipment industry belt.

In Jinjiang, Putian, and Quanzhou, they began to take overseas orders as early as the 1980s, gradually establishing a complete supply chain system from raw materials to finished products.

Nationally, 50% of shoe and apparel supporting products are produced in Jinjiang; globally, 1 in every 5 pairs of sports shoes is “made in Jinjiang,” as is 1 in every 5 swimsuits and 1 in every 5 jackets.

After years of accumulation, the industry belt has achieved a transformation from ordinary sports shoes to segmented categories, from OEM to proprietary brands. Brands like Anta, Xtep, and 361° have all grown from this land.

Taking Anta as an example, since its founding in the 1990s, it has made the leap from an OEM to China’s top sports brand. In January 2026, Anta acquired a stake in Puma, becoming its largest single shareholder with a 29.06% stake. This brand from Jinjiang has already taken the global stage.

Beyond the leading brands, there are countless invisible champions in the supply chain, forming a unique industrial cluster ecosystem. Li Changren, general manager of Quanzhou Di’en Sports Goods Co., Ltd., summarizes the advantages of Fujian’s sports goods industry belt in one sentence: a complete supply chain, with both upstream and downstream present.

“In a ten-mile radius, we can gather all the materials for a pair of shoes, from the sole, molds, to the thread,” Li Changren described the most intuitive advantage of the Jinjiang industry belt. He recalls that when he was young and worked in Guangdong’s shoe industry, the supply chain was relatively fragmented, requiring cross-regional procurement. In Jinjiang, however, “you can even buy what you need just by going downstairs.”

Another Fujian company, Kairuilin, also exemplifies the deep accumulation of the industry belt. This company was established only last November but launched a full range of products, including pickleball paddles, sportswear, shoes, and bags, in just a few months.

(Kairuilin booth with pickleball paddles Dong Jingyi/photograph)

“In fact, being able to produce all of this in three months relies on the concentration of sports brands in Fujian’s local shoe and apparel industry,” explained Xing Gongli, general manager of Quanzhou Kairuilin Sports Goods Co., Ltd. His parent company, Xingda, has been in the shoe and apparel industry for 30 years, accumulating rich resources and experience. “In Jinjiang, I can take a button and produce a pair of shoes; that’s a normal thing.”

This cluster effect brings both cost and efficiency advantages, forming overseas clients’ perception of the “Fujian manufacturing” label: “quality is acceptable, and prices are reasonable.”

The industrial accumulation also gives Fujian companies more maneuvering space when facing market changes. Su Yangbin told reporters that the company has gradually extended from OEM to design and branding, increasingly feeling the intensifying industry competition.

“As the market changes, regions like Zhejiang and Guangdong have also started producing sports goods, and our advantages have been diluted. But what Jinjiang ultimately retains is the stability of quality and craftsmanship, which is difficult for other regions to overcome in the short term,” Su Yangbin stated.

As the benefits of low-price competition fade, the efficiencies, craftsmanship stability, and ongoing innovation capabilities that have been accumulated become the true moat for enterprises.

Building High Walls in the Deep Sea

“China lacks products but lacks creativity,” Su Yangbin stated frankly.

He has observed that polarization in the market is becoming increasingly apparent: either the cheapest or brands with design and quality guarantees. The once most popular “mid-tier” customers—those with moderate volume and good profits—are gradually decreasing.

“Either you compete on price to drive traffic, or you move up, focusing not on traffic but ensuring quality and profits,” Su Yangbin expressed.

In response to this change, Fujian companies are beginning to seek new paths.

Sanfan’s strategy is to avoid low-price competition and create differentiated products. They launched a product that combines multiple functions such as push-up supports, resistance stretching, ski machines, and waist twisters, assembled with buckles for multifunctionality. They registered a structural patent in the U.S. and sold it to local brands.

Some companies are also turning to niche markets, such as Di’en Sports.

Before 2012, Di’en produced ordinary sports shoes. Later, due to severe homogenization and an inability to continue price wars, they shifted to the segmented competitive sports shoe sector. “One centimeter wide, one kilometer deep,” Li Changren describes their current positioning.

Currently, more than 80% of Di’en’s overseas business comes from OEM at first, with clients providing designs for production. As their technological accumulation grew, they began to do ODM, with clients adopting their designs. Eventually, they started moving from the background to the foreground, launching their own brand, PODARECK. “It all came together naturally”—he uses these four characters to describe this process.

“Once, a salesperson received an inquiry from a Greek client who said they were looking for a wrestling shoe of PODARECK quality. The salesperson said that is our brand. The client didn’t believe it, so we sent them the trademark registration certificate and translated it for them,” Li Changren recalled.

The journey from OEM to brand is one that Fujian companies have taken for many years. Li Changren observes that the brand wave in Jinjiang has gone through several phases. The earliest batch that produced all categories generally did not succeed, “at most one or two out of a hundred.” Now, in this wave, many choose niche markets, “focusing on tennis shoes or wrestling shoes on Amazon, it’s very likely that the top ten are all yours.”

The requirements for competitive shoes are extremely high; a difference of 0.1 seconds can determine victory or defeat, thus having special requirements for grip, durability, and more.

This professional threshold brings about technical investment. Li Changren disclosed that the company’s research and development expenses account for 20% of total investment, “which is a relatively high proportion.” They use new materials like nanomaterials and graphene, which are lightweight and functional. The racing shoes for the Canadian bobsled team at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics were made by them.

Kairuilin is also searching for “one kilometer deep.” Backed by thirty years of carbon fiber material R&D experience from its parent company Xingda and technical support from the Fujian Strait Graphene Industrial Technology Research Institute, Kairuilin specializes in pickleball equipment.

“This material is not replicable by others,” Xing Gongli told reporters. Their paddles sell for 840 yuan domestically, around 100 dollars in the U.S. market, fitting perfectly within the local mainstream price range. “It meets the requirements for PTA competitions in the U.S. and can be used directly in competitions.”

It is evident that in Fujian’s sports goods industry belt, a new consensus is forming: rather than “competing on price” in the red ocean, it is better to “build high walls” in the deep sea. As Li Changren said, their goal is to “become a small king on this hill.”

This trend is accelerating. Deng Hai, CEO of Fujian Miduo Network Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters that the advantages of traditional export “old three items” are diminishing, with new channels and new categories rising rapidly. Each product is more finely focused to meet specific group needs, and digital marketing can accurately reach them. “What may appear to be just a ball or a net now incorporates many features that meet customers’ personalized needs, even emotional value.”

For companies in Fujian’s sports goods industry belt, choices are becoming increasingly clear. Some want to be “big kings,” others wish to be “small kings,” while some merely want to dig “one kilometer deep” in a “one centimeter wide” field.

Regardless of which path they choose, it is not easy now. But Fujian enterprises are striving to find their blue ocean in the red ocean, discovering ways to thrive in an industry defined by price wars.

Their stories of going global are far from reaching an end.