Xtep International, the Fujian-based sportswear group behind the accessible-tier Xtep brand, Saucony and outdoor brand Merrell, pairs a high-profile Maye Musk appearance with new running technology as it looks to broaden awareness beyond China’s performance-running community.
On Aug. 21, Xtep staged a product event in Shanghai. Maye Musk, mother of Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, walked the runway in the brand’s Zero Cloud Max line. The appearance generated attention beyond specialist running media, including broader lifestyle and entertainment coverage, three days before Xtep’s half-year results. It also drew rapid attention on Chinese social media and was picked up by international trade press.
Under the banner “Run to X,” Xtep unveiled the GT1200 carbon plate, which SGIE covered at the time, the site’s most-viewed article last week.
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What the H1 results show
Three days after the Shanghai event, Xtep reported interim results showing group revenue essentially flat, while its mass-market core brand slowed and the premium Saucony and Merrell portfolio carried group growth, as SGIE reported.
The mass-market brand that built Xtep’s running reputation is under pressure. Saucony and Merrell, priced a tier above, grew by double digits and now account for a bigger share of group revenue than a year ago. The Shanghai launch, and the Musk appearance with it, landed in the middle of that shift.
Recognition outside core running circles remains a challenge
Xtep’s running credentials inside China are specific and measurable. The brand says its 160X series has helped break Chinese marathon records four times over three years and has led wearing rates at Chinese marathons for three consecutive years, according to Frost & Sullivan. At the 2025 Shanghai Marathon, 12.2 percent of finishers under three hours wore Xtep, a statistic originating with the brand and reported by Substack writer Wei Kan (“From the Inside”).
Kan calls that kind of data a “behavior badge” and argues that the trust built through marathon participation cannot be replicated through a single marketing event. He argues Saucony faces an identical problem one price tier up, respected by runners but largely unknown to the premium lifestyle buyers Xtep is now courting through Musk and Saucony’s 2024 partnership with actor Eddie Peng. Outside the running world, Xtep still reads to most consumers as a cheaper alternative to bigger domestic rivals, according to Jing Daily.
The relevance path to Europe
Xtep’s global ambitions already run through more conventional channels than celebrity marketing. Its 2026 Elite Runner Program, part of the X-RUN platform that sponsors racers, funds a 10-kilometer time-trial circuit and pays personal-best incentives, has drawn applicants from Indonesia and Malaysia, extending the grassroots relationships the company is using as a springboard beyond China.
The GT1200 launch matters for European brands less as competitive theater and more as evidence of continued investment in high-performance materials and domestic supply-chain capabilities within China’s running sector.
The more immediate question is whether Saucony’s 180-store China network and new Hong Kong flagship become a template for expansion into markets beyond Asia.
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