For sports apparel and footwear brands, indications are that consumer demand in China is trending down.

Challenges in consumer demand for sports footwear and apparel could mean a long recovery time for brands in China.

There are indications that shoppers are becoming more discerning about where and how they spend, though running has been a bright spot.

“Running remained relatively more resilient than other categories, although growth also decelerated” in the third quarter of fiscal ’26, Jefferies analyst Randal J. Konik noted. He also wrote that the “weakness appears broad-based across brands and categories rather than isolated to a few laggards.” Consumers are becoming increasingly selective, and compounding the overall sales picture is that China sportswear demand remained weak in September and early October, with consumption downgrade trends intensifying.

Of course, this isn’t a surprise, given the disclosures about Nike’s troubles in China. The apparel and shoe giant is making plans to rejigger its China operations, including a new Asia-Pacific plan to move the Greater China out of China to Singapore. And earlier this month, Nike debuted a new line locally designed for the China market by its recently formed Local Production Creation Team.

For now, a continued delay in the recovery of confidence among the Chinese mass-market base fuels ongoing challenges already faced by the sporting goods category, impacting brands such as Anta Sports — the third-largest sportswear firm in China behind Nike and Adidas — and Nike.

Anta is the Finnish group Amer Sports ‘ largest shareholder, and it recently completed its acquisition of a stake in Puma, becoming the German brand’s largest stakeholder.

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