Word: sportswear
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...Less than two years later, Li Ning the company is still soaring. In March, Li Ning Co. reported a more than 30% rise in profit in 2009. Li Ning started his sportswear company in 1990, building it into a giant, with 2009 sales considerably more than $1 billion. With 7,249 branded stores in China, Li Ning has surpassed Adidas to become the No. 2 sports-apparel company in the country. Unlike an Adidas or a Nike, 99% of Li Ning's revenue comes from within China. But this won't be the case for long. Li Ning has signed...
...This year, Li is back on the West Coast - or rather, his eponymous sportswear company is - setting up its first U.S. retail store in Portland, Ore., not far from the headquarters of archrival Nike. This isn't the first time China's biggest shoe company will go toe to toe with Nike, which has aggressively marketed itself in China. But for once, it won't have home-court advantage. Eyes are on the Portland area, also home to Adidas America and Columbia Sportswear, to see if Li Ning can once again surprise the world by taking on American powerhouses...
...China is largely associated with the mass production of low-end goods, with few of its own international brands. To battle China's reputation for cheap imitations, Li Ning has hired top designers from Portland's rich pool of shoe-design talent and placed its high-end sportswear in an airy showroom in a Portland's chic Pearl district. (See pictures of Olympic shoes...
...Nike isn't shaking in its boots yet, but permanent dominance in American sportswear is never a shoo-in. When Li Ning opened its Portland retail store to the public for an hour on Feb. 15 for its grand opening, sneaker heads lined up for five hours to be among the first to own a pair of BD Dooms, basketball shoes named after NBA point guard Baron Davis. Jay Li admits they lined up "not because of Li Ning but because we have a world-class basketball shoe." (It probably also helped that Baron Davis himself was in the store...
...Every Olympics has its underdog stories. At the 2008 Beijing Games, one of the most memorable was not on the track but in the boardroom of a Chinese sportswear company named after its founder, Li Ning - a triple gymnastics gold medalist at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. While the then 18-year-old firm wasn't an official sponsor, it used careful planning to outflank its deep-pocketed overseas rivals by picking likely medalists to outfit with Li Ning - branded gear (official sponsor Adidas had the rights to provide uniforms for medal and other ceremonies, but athletes were free...