From Olympic Games to Paris Fashion Week: the rise of Li-Ning - The Chinese brand has became one of the hyped brand of the streetwear scene

The most attentive observers of Bella Hadid will not miss that for sure: the American model was photographed wearing Li-Ning sneakers (a pair of White Furious Rider Ace 1.5) two days before the men's show of the Chinese brand to be held at Center Pompidou on January 18, in the middle of the Parisian fashion week. The Fall/Winter 2020 collection will refer to vintage video games, Chinese porcelain and a series of urban characters, and most likely there will also be a mini-capsule in collaboration with the martial arts legend Jackie Chan.

After making his debut in the world of fashion with the collection unveiled on the Paris FW runway last season, Li-Ning is to be considered among the most awaited brands of Paris Fashion Week, as was during the Milanese one: certainly because of the debut of the collaboration with Neil Barrett (with whom two running sneakers were designed, the Lion Dance model and the Essence 2.3), but also for the footwear partnership with Random Identities, the brand founded in 2014 by the Italian designer Stefano Pilati with whom Li-Ning has already collaborated on a very colorful summer collection inspired by one of the traditional Chinese sports, ping-pong.

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For Spring/Summer 2020, Li-Ning presents a collection of apparel, footwear, and accessories that pays tribute to ping-pong and elevates both of its understandings: the fun, uncomplicated activity as well as the high-stakes, high-tech Olympic sport that has the most participants of any in the world. #lining #liningpfw #liningss20

Un post condiviso da Li-Ning (@lining.official) in data: 23 Giu 2019 alle ore 8:42 PDT

Together they developed the Aurora 2020, the cycling shoe inspired by a 2004 model to which an LED system has been applied on the upper that makes it futuristic. The arrival of the Chinese brand on the international fashion scene was the big goal declared a few years ago by Li-Ning, which closed 2019 with record numbers on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and a growth of 200% which attested to the brand's value at over $ 6 billion, the best performer in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index and the top gainer among clothing companies globally.

The approach to the European and US market has been progressive, and has allowed Li-Ning to build an increasingly solid connection year after year, faster than other ambitious Asian brands such as Yonex, UNIQLO and Anta Sports. If in a 1998 Hill + Knowlton Strategies survey almost no Chinese interviewee considered the brands of their country to be 'cool' enough, today the native brands have the weapons to be able to try at least to compete with global giants such as Nike and adidas. This growth also took place thanks to the ability to 'detach' itself from the similarity of the L-logo with Nike's Swoosh, moving from the 2010 rebranding which actually increased the brand's certainties and self-esteem by reshaping its graphic identity, to finish the partnership with the Stefano Pilati brand that has contributed to perhaps definitively fill the gap that Li-Ning was missing in order to become an attractive reality even in the difficult world of streetwear. On the other hand, as stated in the slogan that stands out on the official website of the brand, 'Anything is Possible'.