From contract manufacturers for Western brands to global powerhouses owning European heritage labels, Chinese sportswear companies used Milano Cortina 2026 to showcase their transformation – with Li-Ning, Anta, Peak and Toread supplying teams across continents.
At the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, Chinese sportswear brands achieved their most significant international breakthrough to date, outfitting national delegations from Belgium to Ecuador and cementing their rise as global contenders.
From Beijing to Milano Cortina: The ascent of China’s sporting giants
The journey of China’s sports industry from the Beijing 2008 Summer Games to Milano Cortina 2026 is marked by strategic investments in technology and global partnerships, showcasing a remarkable transformation in modern business.
It began with China joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, which opened the door for Chinese manufacturers to reach global markets and learn from established brands.
What started as the “world’s factory” era – where Chinese companies made products for Western brands – has evolved into a phase characterized by innovation and global brand ownership. After winning the bid for Beijing 2022, China launched its “300 million people on ice and snow” initiative in 2015, sparking a nationwide movement that pushed Chinese sporting goods makers from regional players to global powerhouses. Today, they not only compete with European legacy brands but own and revitalize them.
Behind the scenes, China’s economy has been transitioning toward high-tech industries and sustainable practices. President Xi Jinping introduced the concept of “New Quality Productive Forces” in late 2023, and by February 2026, it forms the backbone of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030). While headlines typically highlight this framework’s impact on electric vehicles, batteries, and renewable energy, it also explains what’s happening on the slopes and rinks of Milano Cortina. The policy pushes China away from growth built on cheap labor and heavy industry toward innovation, efficiency and sustainability.
That’s why Li-Ning and Anta aren’t just showing up with tracksuits. They are demonstrating aerospace-grade insulation and automated smart manufacturing. They’re proving their rise is no longer built on low costs, but on world-leading expertise in high-tech materials and engineering.
While some have humorously dubbed these Winter Olympics as a fashion show, the event underscores a serious shift in industrial power and brand ambition. But there’s something serious underneath the spectacle. These Games are a demonstration of industrial power and brand ambition. And on that podium, Chinese brands aren’t just competing – they’re showcasing their technological advancements and strategic growth, positioning themselves as leaders.
- Anta: The portfolio powerhouse
- Li-Ning: Heritage and high tech
- Peak: The diplomatic brand
- Pelliot: The rise of the niche
- Why China is winning the long game
The Big Three: How Anta, Li-Ning, and Peak are carving up the Games
If you want to see how much the power balance in sports has shifted, look at the logos in the Italian Alps this week. China’s biggest labels aren’t just here to fill space; they are executing three very different, very aggressive playbooks for global dominance.
Anta: The portfolio powerhouse
Anta Sports has traveled a long road from its beginnings as a local Jinjiang shoe factory. Today, it operates more like a global holding company than a traditional sports label. While much of the international focus followed their 2019 acquisition of Amer Sports – the parent company of winter giants Salomon, Atomic, and Arc’teryx – Anta was quietly preparing its next major move. That play arrived just last month: a $1.8 billion acquisition of a 29 percent stake in Puma. With a market capitalization of approximately $27 billion, Anta is now valued at roughly eight times that of the German sportswear icon, shifting the narrative from a simple partnership to one of significant corporate influence.
In Milano Cortina, Anta is leveraging its deep portfolio through a tiered team-equipment strategy. Rather than holding the general Olympic Committee rights, the group is outfitting 13 Chinese national teams across a broad spectrum of events. The flagship Anta brand is providing professional competition and training gear for ten of these teams, covering core speed disciplines like short-track speed skating, speed skating, and skeleton, as well as figure skating, curling, bobsleigh, and luge.
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Complementing this, Anta Group uses its specialized subsidiaries to target specific terrains: FILA China outfits the national freestyle skiing aerials team, while Descente China provides technical equipment for both the national alpine skiing and snowboard half-pipe teams. Beyond the Chinese squad, Anta has secured a symbolic international foothold as the Gold Partner and Official Sportswear Partner of the Hellenic Olympic Committee. By dressing the Greek delegation –the first to enter the stadium during the opening ceremony – Anta ensures its presence is felt from the very start of the Games, providing a full range of ceremony, podium, and training apparel for the birthplace of the Olympic movement.
Li-Ning: Heritage and high tech
While Anta focuses on the “grind” of the competition, Li-Ning is aiming for the heart. Having reclaimed the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC) partnership for this cycle, they secured some among the most photographed moments of the Games. Those sky-blue parkas you saw at the Opening Ceremony? That’s Li-Ning’s strategic push towards “premiumization” and enhanced global brand perception.
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But the real story is under the fabric. Li-Ning isn’t just selling “culture” anymore, but science. Their 2026 kit features basalt-fibre tech and aerospace-grade insulation developed with China’s space agency. It’s a clever bit of “Brand China” marketing – positioning themselves as the brand of high-tech explorers. They’re even outfitting Argentina’s small but visible winter squad, testing the waters for a deeper push into the Americas.
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Peak: The diplomatic brand
Then there’s Peak Sport. While the other two fight over the giants, Peak has quietly become the world’s most prolific Olympic outfitter by focusing on everyone else.
Through a massive eight-year deal with the IOC and ANOC that runs all the way to Brisbane 2032, Peak has basically become the “UN of sportswear.” They’ve committed to outfitting any National Olympic Committee with six or fewer athletes for free. It’s a genius soft-power move. By outfitting nations like Belgium, Serbia, and Romania—alongside dozens of smaller delegations—Peak ensures its “Triangle” logo is the most frequent sight in the Olympic Village, building a global footprint one small nation at a time.
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Pelliot: The rise of the niche
Beyond the “Big Two plus One,” a new wave of Chinese specialist brands is using Milano-Cortina 2026 to prove they can handle the world’s harshest environments. Pelliot, an outdoor label that has seen a meteoric rise in China’s domestic “glamping” and ski scenes, just pulled off an international coup. They’ve signed as the official partner for several emerging winter nations, including Kyrgyzstan, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Ecuador.
For a brand like Pelliot, this represents solid technical validation. By proving their gear can keep an Olympic athlete warm and mobile at 140km/h on a bobsled run, they’re building the credibility needed to challenge premium Western outdoor labels, both at home and abroad.
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The “visibility hack”: Why China is winning the long game
As this story goes live, Norway, Italy, and the U.S. are locked in a fierce battle for the top of the medal table at Milano Cortina. However, the sheer prominence of Chinese logos across the Games highlights a different kind of competition – one measured in visibility, global recognition, and industrial self-confidence.
By outfitting one out of every six national delegations, China’s brands have secured a “background” presence that is impossible for the digital audience to skip or mute. As growth in the domestic mass market begins to stabilize, these brands are treating the Italian Alps as a live laboratory. They are testing their technical limits, building diplomatic “soft power” through the IOC, and preparing for the next phase: a full-scale retail and M&A expansion into Europe and the Americas.
Welcome to the Year of the Fire Horse. Starting tomorrow, 17 February, the steady pace of the Snake gives way to the high-voltage energy of the Horse, supercharged by the Fire element – a combination that occurs only once every 60 years. In Chinese tradition, this represents the “Dragon-Horse Spirit” (Long Ma Jing Shen): a time for bold action, rapid pivots, and unstoppable momentum. In life, in the world, and in sporting goods.
Winter Games 2026
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How sporting goods companies partner with athletes and compete for Olympic success—products, activations, messaging, and strategies.
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