Nike, Inc. is the world's leading sports products company headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, USA. Listed on the NYSE, it focuses on designing and marketing athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment through an asset-light model that outsources production, operating in 190+ countries. With 600+ contracted factories, 10 R&D centers, and 50 distribution hubs, Nike reported $50 billion revenue in 2024 and employs ~80,000 people. Its portfolio includes Nike, Jordan, and Converse brands. Leveraging innovative core technologies like Air cushioning, unparalleled brand marketing, and an efficient global supply chain, it maintains absolute leadership in the global sports products industry.
Strengths: Nike's core strengths are its absolute leadership in the global sports products market, with unmatched brand value, top athlete endorsements, and a powerful digital marketing network; industry-leading technological innovation through core patents like Air and Flyknit, sustained by high R&D investment; and an efficient global supply chain spanning 600+ factories, ensuring excellent cost control and rapid response.
Weaknesses: Nike's heavy reliance on outsourced manufacturing makes its supply chain vulnerable to geopolitical risks, rising production costs, and logistics disruptions; it faces intensifying competition from emerging brands and traditional rivals, increasing pressure to defend market share; global economic fluctuations may impact demand, while sustainability transitions impose ongoing cost pressures.

adidas AG is a globally leading sports company headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Its business encompasses designing and marketing athletic footwear, apparel, and equipment through an asset-light model focusing on design and R&D while outsourcing production, operating in 160+ countries. With 800+ supplier factories, 10 logistics centers, and 5 R&D hubs, adidas reported €21.4 billion revenue in 2024 with ~62,000 employees. Leveraging innovative core technologies like Boost, top-tier sports marketing resources, and continuous sustainability practices, it maintains significant leadership in the global sporting goods market.
Strengths: adidas' core strengths are its outstanding technological innovation with proprietary patents like Boost and Primeknit, sustained by substantial R&D investment; top-tier sports marketing through sponsorships of World Cup, UEFA Champions League, and athletes like Messi; and leading sustainability practices achieving 30% recycled material usage and advancing circular economy initiatives.
Weaknesses: adidas faces intense competition in North America with slow growth and market share pressure; persistent inventory management challenges require continuous optimization to enhance operational efficiency; it also confronts cost control difficulties from raw material volatility and rising supply chain expenses.

Puma SE is a globally leading sportlifestyle brand headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FWB: PUM) as a DAX index component. Operating an asset-light brand model, it outsources production to partner factories in Asia and focuses on the design, development, and global marketing of footwear, apparel, and accessories. Puma successfully blends professional athletic performance with streetwear culture, renowned for its leadership in football and powerful fashion collaborations. With revenue reaching €8.60 billion in 2024 and maintaining steady growth for consecutive years, it is a benchmark in the global sportswear market, celebrated for its vibrancy, cultural influence, and operational excellence.
Strengths: Puma's core strengths are its unique brand positioning, which successfully merges a professional sports heritage with formidable cultural influence in fashion, delivering high emotional value-add; concurrently, the company demonstrates exceptional operational efficiency and financial health, and has achieved a balanced global business footprint across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific regions, enhancing its resilience.
Weaknesses: Puma's main weaknesses are the significant gap in revenue scale compared to the industry's top two players (Nike, Adidas), placing it in a catch-up position regarding global market share and marketing resources; furthermore, it faces intense direct competition from the giants in every core category and regional market, and as a mass-market brand, its performance is relatively sensitive to global economic cycles and consumer sentiment fluctuations.

Anta Sports Products Limited is a leading Chinese sports products group headquartered in Quanzhou, Fujian, listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Employing a multi-brand strategy, it operates brands including ANTA, FILA, and DESCENTE, covering professional sports, fashion sports, and outdoor segments. Operating in 30+ countries with 12,000+ Chinese stores, it maintains 10+ production bases and 5 R&D centers. 2024 revenue reached RMB 62 billion with ~55,000 employees, with the ANTA brand contributing 40%. Leveraging its comprehensive multi-brand portfolio, continuous technological innovation, and extensive omnichannel network, it maintains absolute leadership in China's sports market.
Strengths: Anta's core strengths are its comprehensive multi-brand portfolio achieving full price-segment coverage through ANTA, FILA, etc.; sustained technological innovation with core patents like Nitrogen Technology and 4% R&D investment ratio; extensive omnichannel network operating 12,000+ Chinese stores while advancing DTC transformation.
Weaknesses: Anta faces insufficient internationalization with 90% revenue from China requiring overseas breakthrough; high multi-brand management complexity challenges brand synergy and integration; cost control pressures persist from rising raw material costs and DTC transformation investments affecting profitability.

New Balance Athletics, Inc. is a globally leading private sportswear brand headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It employs a unique hybrid manufacturing model, combining self-owned factories in the USA and UK with partnered factories in Asia, standing out for its commitment to domestic craftsmanship. Its core business encompasses technically advanced performance running shoes and growth-driving retro lifestyle sneakers, extended into athletic apparel and gear. With an estimated revenue of approximately $5.3 billion in 2024 and sustained growth, it has successfully built profound brand equity at the intersection of professional performance and fashion culture, serving as a paradigm in the global market for achieving exceptional reputation through long-termism and product excellence.
Strengths: New Balance's core strengths lie in its unique and difficult-to-replicate hybrid manufacturing model and brand assets, blending the premium narrative of domestic craftsmanship with the scale efficiency of Asian partnerships, building deep quality trust and emotional premium; concurrently, its authoritative technology in performance running and fashionable influence in retro sneakers form a powerful dual growth engine, and as a private company, it enjoys long-term independence in financial and strategic decision-making.
Weaknesses: New Balance's main weaknesses involve the enduring challenge of maintaining its niche, artisanal brand scarcity and elite appeal amidst rapid scale expansion; its complex hybrid supply chain poses high demands on management difficulty and cost control, and current growth is somewhat overly reliant on a few retro sneaker series like the 990, necessitating the successful cultivation of new classics to diversify risk.

Skechers U.S.A., Inc. is a globally leading footwear design, marketing, and distribution company headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: SKX). As the world's third-largest athletic footwear brand, Skechers operates an asset-light brand model, outsourcing production to partner factories in Asia while focusing on product innovation centered on "comfort technology" (e.g., Memory Foam) and global marketing. Its comprehensive product portfolio spans sports-lifestyle, walking, work, and children's footwear, distributed through an extensive wholesale network, company-owned retail stores, and e-commerce platforms to over 180 countries. With revenue reaching $8.006 billion in 2024, it has successfully built a deeply resonant, family-friendly comfort lifestyle brand image.
Strengths: Skechers' core strengths are its unparalleled brand positioning, which has firmly established the "comfort" label in the global consumer mindset and fostered exceptionally high loyalty; concurrently, its efficient and agile asset-light operational model and superior supply chain management underpin strong value-for-money and rapid market responsiveness, while healthy diversification across international markets and direct-to-consumer channels forms a robust growth engine.
Weaknesses: Skechers' main weaknesses are the intensely fierce price competition in its core mid-market segment, subjecting it to sustained margin pressure; furthermore, its high dependence on Asian manufacturing exposes it to geopolitical and cost volatility risks, and it faces challenges in breaking the brand premium ceiling within the high-end performance athletic segment.

Li-Ning Company Limited is a leading Chinese professional sportswear brand listed in Hong Kong (Stock Code: 2331) with operational headquarters in Beijing. Operating an asset-light brand model, it fully outsources production to partner factories in Asia and focuses on the design, development, and omni-channel marketing of footwear, apparel, and sports equipment. Adhering to a "Single Brand, Multiple Categories" strategy, Li-Ning successfully blends professional sports technologies (e.g., "Boom", "Jiang") with its premium "China Li-Ning" fashion line, leading the "China-chic" trend. With revenue reaching RMB 27.6 billion in 2024, it ranks at the forefront of China's sportswear market, serving as a benchmark for brand revival through cultural confidence and product innovation.
Strengths: Li-Ning's core strengths are its unique and profound brand cultural assets, combining the founder's national hero image as the "Prince of Gymnastics" with its leadership in the "China-chic" trend, building high emotional resonance and premium pricing power; concurrently, the company possesses top-tier product design and technological capabilities in professional domains like basketball and running, and as a single-brand company, demonstrates exceptional profitability and refined retail operational efficiency.
Weaknesses: Li-Ning's main weaknesses are the intense all-front competition it faces in the relatively saturated domestic market from Anta, Nike, and Adidas, creating significant pressure on growth space and market share capture; furthermore, its growth is heavily reliant on the single "Li-Ning" master brand, presenting a structural weakness in risk diversification compared to multi-brand groups, and its international expansion remains at an early stage with uncertain outcomes.

ASICS Corporation is a globally leading professional sportswear brand headquartered in Kobe, Japan, and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TYO: 7936). Operating an asset-light brand model, it fully outsources production to partner factories in Asia, focusing on the R&D, design, and global marketing of footwear, apparel, and equipment. Guided by the philosophy "Anima Sana In Corpore Sano" (A Sound Mind in a Sound Body), ASICS is the ultimate representative of "science-driven performance," with its core running shoes (e.g., METASPEED, KAYANO series) enjoying undisputed professional acclaim. Revenue reached ¥571 billion (approx. $3.62B) in 2024, an 18.4% year-on-year growth, driven by a dual-engine strategy of "performance running + retro fashion," making it a paradigm of technological focus and long-termism in the global sportswear market.
Strengths: ASICS's core strengths are its unparalleled professional technology and absolute reputation in running and other fields, building a deep technical moat and community trust through its Kobe Institute; concurrently, the company has successfully transformed its classic performance heritage into a unique retro-fashion aesthetic, creating a second growth curve and achieving an exceptional financial turnaround with improved profitability.
Weaknesses: ASICS's main weaknesses are the intense direct competition it faces from resource-rich giants like Nike and Adidas in core arenas such as top-tier racing shoes, necessitating sustained high investment; furthermore, the retro-fashion momentum contributing to its growth is cyclical, requiring continuous successful new product launches to maintain it, and its production reliance on Asian supply chains exposes it to cost and currency fluctuation risks.

Under Armour, Inc. is a globally leading performance sportswear brand headquartered in Baltimore, USA, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (UAA/UA). Operating an asset-light brand model, it fully outsources production to global partner factories, focusing on the design, development, and marketing of functional athletic apparel, footwear, and equipment. Founded on the mission to “Make Athletes Better,” it built its foundation on intelligent fabric technologies like HeatGear in training gear, with the Curry series as the cornerstone of its footwear business. Fiscal 2024 revenue was $5.83 billion, and it is currently executing the “Protect This House 3” strategic restructuring initiative aimed at refocusing on performance, improving operational efficiency, and returning to profitable growth, positioning it as a key professional challenger in the global sportswear market.
Strengths: Under Armour's core strengths are its deep heritage in functional apparel technology and trust within professional athletic communities, maintaining strong performance equity in training and basketball; concurrently, its iconic partnership with Stephen Curry provides a stable global influence anchor, and the current management's focused restructuring initiative demonstrates clear strategic redirection resolve.
Weaknesses: Under Armour's main weaknesses are its blurred differentiation and value proposition in the mass market amidst intense competition from giants like Nike and Adidas as well as lululemon; furthermore, the company's over-reliance on the stagnant North American market (nearly 70% of revenue) presents a structural risk, and the strategic execution of its brand reset and its financial translation carry uncertainty.

Fila Holdings Corp. is a globally leading sport lifestyle brand group headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, and listed on the Korea Exchange (081660). As the global trademark owner of the Fila brand, it employs an innovative hybrid model of "global ownership with regional licensed operations," notably exclusively licensing the Greater China region to Anta Sports for operation while directly managing markets like Korea, Europe, and the Americas. By fashionably reinventing its century-old Italian sporting heritage, the brand led the global "dad shoe" trend with iconic retro footwear like the Disruptor, successfully transforming into a premium sportstyle icon. Group revenue reached KRW 4.26 trillion (approx. $3.12B) in 2024, with its high-margin licensing model and powerful brand rejuvenation capability constituting unique competitive strengths.
Strengths: Fila's core strengths are its exceptional brand revitalization and trend-defining ability, successfully transforming its century-old heritage into a symbol of global retro sport aesthetics; concurrently, its unique "Greater China licensing model" with Anta delivers a high-margin, stable profit stream from that market (contributing ~70% of revenue) with minimal operational risk, serving as a licensing paradigm.
Weaknesses: Fila's main weaknesses are its brand heat being deeply tied to singular retro trends like "dad shoes," posing significant cyclical fashion risk; furthermore, group revenue is critically over-reliant on the single licensed Greater China market, creating structural vulnerability, while its directly operated markets in Korea, Europe, and the Americas face growth stagnation and intense competition.