HOKA’s move to a mass-market entertainment ambassador in China aims at widening its consumer base through lifestyle appeal as On Holding and Brooks Running scale faster in the region’s running category.
Deckers -owned HOKA has named actor and singer Hou Minghao, known in China as Neo Hou, as its brand ambassador. The tie-up, announced July 15 in Shanghai, has Hou styled in HOKA apparel alongside the Mafate Speed 2, the brand’s trail-inspired lifestyle sneaker, in a new Stone White/River Rock Grey colorway. HOKA presents the collaboration as a reflection of Hou’s multi-hyphenate career and the brand’s effort to broaden its appeal beyond performance running.
Hou is a mainstream entertainment figure with a large social media following, not an athlete. It is a departure from HOKA’s usual approach of building credibility through sport. The move comes as competition in China’s running category has intensified. On Holding and Brooks Running have both reported strong growth across Asia Pacific, with China cited as a significant contributor, pushing HOKA to defend share in a category it helped popularize but no longer has to itself.
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A growing Chinese market that is becoming increasingly competitive.
That competitive pressure sits inside a market that keeps expanding regardless of which brand wins share. According to Alibaba’s Tmall Sports and Outdoor unit, more than 400 million people in China run regularly, spanning everyone from competitive trail racers to casual, style-driven joggers. That range of runner is what HOKA’s shift toward lifestyle product is designed to reach.
HOKA’s retail footprint gives it a physical base for the strategy.
The brand operates more than 100 stores in China, including 33 directly operated locations that let it control its premium presentation. It also runs a three-story, 1,600-square-meter flagship experience center in Shanghai that opened in 2025 and serves as a marketing hub for campaigns like this one.
HOKA has been building a community presence in China since 2017 through retail expansion and grassroots running events. The celebrity-led fashion push builds on that groundwork rather than replacing it.
HOKA has not dropped athletic credibility in favor of fame.
The brand has separately named Olympic swimming gold medalist Wang Shun as a footwear ambassador and speed skating gold medalist Gao Tingyu as a brand friend. The structure lets HOKA pursue two different audiences at once: mass reach through entertainment and credibility through elite sport.
