𝐀𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐬 𝐯𝐬 𝐍𝐢𝐤𝐞: 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐚𝐲 𝐘𝐞𝐬 𝐈𝐧 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐡𝐚𝐢?

In three days, adidas China turned a translation error into a T-shirt on sale.

Its product page had turned "errands around town" into a phrase that made shoppers picture a villager going to town to get things done, and they made it an online meme that became viral. The brand joined the joke, then printed the phrase on an existing basic tee, making it available on its site just three days after the meme had appeared.

Behind that speed sits a reporting line.

In October, adidas CEO, Bjørn Gulden, told the press in Shanghai that decisions on China rest with the China team, with no extra management layer to sign them off. "I have never stopped Adrian from doing anything he wanted to do," he said of his China head, Adrian Siu.

The Shanghai team now designs 65% of the China range, and a quarter of those lines sell in other markets. One of them, a track top with a high collar and knotted buttons, debuted at Shanghai Fashion Week 2025, went viral on TikTok and Instagram, and reached Europe in February 2026.

The numbers line up: adidas's Greater China sales rose 15% at constant exchange rates in the second quarter, a 13th straight quarter of growth, after a 36% fall in 2022 on the same basis. On the first night of this Double 11, the brand passed 200 million yuan on Tmall within an hour.

Nike is now taking up half of that model: it doubled its China design team and says its first China-designed line took under half the normal development time. But on October 1, it merged Greater China into a new Asia Pacific and Greater China region, while saying the change will not weaken decision-making in China. Its China sales fell 26% at constant exchange rates from June to August, a ninth straight quarterly decline.

China works here as a fast-forward lab, and what travels is a test that any brand can run:

1. Does China report straight to global headquarters?
2. What share of your China range is designed in China?
3. How many days does a local moment take to become a product on sale?

Part 1 of this series ended by asking which question you would add, and this is mine.

Who in your company can say yes in Shanghai and to what?

#ChinaRetail #adidas #Nike #ChinaSpeed #Localization

Contact

bruno.gentil@sherpaconsultingasia.com

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