ANTA Sports Products Limited (02020) Q3 2026: Technology Forges Differentiated Barriers, Global Strategy Opens Long-Term Imaginative Space

In the third quarter of 2026, China's sportswear and footwear industry entered a deep adjustment phase: demand was soft, inventory came under pressure, discounting became cutthroat, and the era of broad-based growth came to an end, with K-shaped divergence becoming the clearest footnote for the industry. But the stronger the headwinds, the clearer it becomes who is growing on inertia and who is standing firm on capability. On October 21, ANTA Sports Products Limited (02020) released its operating data for the third quarter of 2026, validating its resilience under pressure with results stronger than the broader market. During the period, the Group maintained steady overall sell-through thanks to its mature multi-brand matrix and precise operating strategy, with the other brands segment represented by Descente and Kolon in particular extending the strong momentum of previous quarters. More notably, at a time when the industry was broadly caught in a promotional spiral, ANTA Sports maintained healthy inventory levels and discount discipline, laying a solid foundation for growth in the fourth quarter. It is clear that even as the mass market segment of the industry comes "under pressure," ANTA's resilience remains evident. **Multi-brand matrix remains steady, anti-cycle value validated again** In the third quarter of 2026, Goldman Sachs channel checks confirmed a weakening in the overall sentiment of China's sportswear industry. Goldman Sachs said the Chinese sportswear industry was broadly soft in the third quarter, with retail performance at most brands continuing under pressure and generally declining, discount and inventory pressure rising in the mass market, and clearance at certain brands intensifying the promotional environment. Meanwhile, brand performance showed clear K-shaped divergence, with inventory and sell-through conditions at premium and professional brands markedly healthier than at mass-market brands. Against this backdrop, ANTA Sports' overall third-quarter performance extended the steady pattern of the first half and held firm in the headwinds with data outperforming the broader market. Among the brands, although ANTA and FILA performed below the second quarter, both maintained a positive trajectory on a high base of roughly RMB 30 billion in annual revenue. According to research reports, across the first three quarters combined, the ANTA brand posted low-single-digit positive growth and FILA maintained mid-single-digit positive growth; sell-through trends for both brands improved month by month in the third quarter and recorded solid year-on-year positive growth during the National Day holiday, a marginal improvement that is particularly rare in an environment of broad industry pressure. At the same time, amid the volatile industry cycle, the structural advantages of the ANTA system became further evident. Other brands represented by Descente and Kolon continued to benefit from the structural opportunity presented by the rise of outdoor lifestyles, with retail sales up 25%-30% year on year in the third quarter and maintaining positive growth of more than 30% across the first three quarters combined. Kolon was particularly outstanding: even as competition in China's outdoor segment continued to intensify, its third-quarter retail sell-through still approached 30% year-on-year growth, sustaining high-quality operating characteristics of high sell-through velocity, high sell-through rates and low discounts. The counter-cyclical growth of these brands is also the best proof of the success of ANTA Sports' multi-brand matrix strategy. In addition, against a backdrop of intensified industry clearance, ANTA did not follow the crowd with aggressive promotions but instead kept discount strategy restrained and inventory healthy, which also underpins ANTA's resilient characteristics. According to a SPDB International research report, retail discounts at the ANTA brand and FILA did not deepen significantly year on year in the third quarter; on inventory, ANTA also maintained healthy levels, achieving high inventory turnover through deeper DTC model development and precise supply chain management while avoiding the risks brought by inventory buildup. In view of this, SPDB International noted in its research report that entering the fourth quarter, with Double 11 and Double 12 providing catalysts via consumption occasions, combined with continued high growth in the outdoor matrix and marginal recovery at the main brand and FILA, ANTA's fourth-quarter sell-through is expected to be better than the third quarter, and the full-year target still has a basis for achievement. It is clear that, underpinned by its multi-brand matrix, the operating quality of high-end brands such as Descente and Kolon continuing to outperform the industry, together with healthy channel inventory, means the anti-cycle value of ANTA Sports' group operating model has once again been validated in this round of industry reshuffling. **Technology forges differentiated barriers, technology compounding is emerging** Of course, the long run for a sports brand is ultimately a competition in technology and product strength. This simple judgment is being repeatedly validated by ANTA with gold medal after gold medal. At the Nagoya Asian Games, the Chinese sports delegation won 169 gold medals, 43% of which came from the 20 national teams sponsored by ANTA, covering competition apparel ANTA provided for gymnastics, weightlifting, swimming, athletics and other events. This means ANTA's "champion dragon uniforms" and event-specific sports equipment withstood rigorous real-world testing in top-level competitive settings. If the 43% figure were treated merely as a footnote to sponsorship scale, its most core information value would be wasted. What it truly marks is a proven downward-transfer pathway, namely that these national team technologies are expected to be further translated into quantifiable commercial value. Over the past decade, ANTA Sports has invested more than RMB 20 billion cumulatively in R&D, translating top-tier technology into mass-market products, which is precisely the company's core differentiator from purely sponsorship-oriented brands. When the underlying technologies of equipment that helps national team athletes break through their limits are transferred to mass-market running shoes, training gear and outdoor product lines, consumers gain professionalism validated by champions, and these champion-endorsed technologies are being converted into purchase reasons in the mass market. For Jack Wolfskin, this logic manifests as a different kind of differentiation that is harder to replicate: not pushing a certain ultimate technology to the highest premium, but making technology "just right." In the third quarter, Jack Wolfskin's global renewal strategy was substantively implemented, with "Mountain Hut Supply Station" themed stores opening first in Changchun and Shenyang, replicating European alpine hiking scenes and allowing consumers to complete a miniature hiking experience as they move through the store; the concept will progressively roll out in Beijing, Shanghai and cities such as Munich and Zurich. On the product side, Jack Wolfskin focused on the core scenario of "traverse hiking" and launched the "Traverser" shell jacket series. Crucially, this involves the rational application of technology: long-distance traverses emphasize enhanced protective durability, medium- and short-distance hikes focus on lightness and comfort, and city-to-wilderness transitions balance convenience with design. It is not about pushing a certain "ultimate technology" to the highest premium, but about giving users at different stages equipment that is "just right." At the same time, the pace the Group has set for Jack Wolfskin is equally pragmatic: China operations are to gradually achieve break-even in 2027. Maintaining such patience with a brand that needs two to three years to refine products and channels is itself evidence of strategic resolve. From this, it is not hard to see that in an industry that is broadly contracting and conservative, the technology compounding effect of ANTA Sports is continuing to amplify. Every gold medal on the field, every pair of running shoes on the shelf, every shell jacket on the mountain trail points to the same answer: push professionalism to the extreme, then make that extreme accessible to the masses. This is both ANTA's technological strength and where its resilience through cycles lies. **Betting on Puma, anchoring long-termism through globalization** True long-termism is never a bet that ignores risk, but rather, after understanding the tides of the cycle, proactively betting on future structural opportunities. The anti-cycle resilience ANTA Sports demonstrated in its third-quarter report is the confidence of the present; the Puma equity closing finalized on October 7 is the positioning for a more distant future. On October 7, ANTA Sports officially completed the closing of a 29.06% equity stake in Puma, becoming its largest shareholder for a cash consideration of EUR 1.5055 billion. This cross-border transaction is a step with enormous imaginative space in ANTA Sports' globalization strategy and a key move in its long-termist chessboard. China's sportswear and footwear segment has long entered stock-market competition, with price cutthroat competition, inventory pressure and cyclical volatility becoming the norm, and the growth ceiling of a single market visible to the naked eye. To break free from the constraints of the domestic cycle and open a second growth curve, globalization is an unavoidable question for leading brands. Following Amer Sports, the move on Puma is another key piece of ANTA's globalization strategy, marking the Group's steady advance from a domestic sports leader toward a global sports giant. Looking further, unlike a model of controlling consolidation and deeply leading operations, ANTA Sports is only the largest shareholder this time and does not obtain controlthis is a patient value investment. Puma has deep professional assets and global event resources in football, motorsport, running and other fields, and has built a stable customer base and distribution system in mature European and American markets, while ANTA Sports' greatest strengthsChina market operations and DTC direct-retail capabilityare precisely what Puma urgently needs to shore up its competitiveness. ANTA Sports positions this transaction as a "value investment," and the market widely believes that, judging from the integration experience with Amer Sports, whose revenue grew at geometric multiples after acquisition and empowerment, Puma's room for improvement in the China market is enough to generate reasonable expectations for synergies. And as Puma completes ANTA's map across global mass sports, trend sports and the football segment, ANTA's globalization matrix is becoming increasingly three-dimensional and complete. The consensus of institutions such as CICC and SPDB International on this transaction is also very clear: the transaction positioning is reasonable, the cash flow arrangement is prudent, and it will not shake the Group's dividend policy. In an industry environment where many companies chase short-term hit products and focus on quarterly reports, the willingness to position in global assets with longer cycles and higher barriers is itself the most vivid footnote to long-termism. **Conclusion** The third-quarter industry environment reminds the market that the sportswear and footwear industry has never been a straight-line upward track. ANTA Sports' positioning rhythm during the industry trough precisely reveals the strategic logic of a mature group: invest in the future when others are contracting, and anchor long-term value amid short-term volatilitythis is the long-term resilience that withstands market cycle risks. Behind the 43% of Chinese national team gold medals are the technological barriers built by years of R&D investment; Jack Wolfskin's "just right" philosophy points to a precise response to consumers' real needs; and the Puma closing opens long-term space for global synergies. ANTA Sports said it is confident of achieving its full-year business guidance and realizing its 2026 profit forecast. For investors and the market, the current focus may shift from fluctuations in single-quarter sell-through to a more fundamental question: when the industry landscape has completed its reshaping, what position will ANTA Sports occupy in the global sporting goods landscape. Judging from the current strategic layout and execution rhythm, the imaginative space in the answer far exceeds the anxiety brought by short-term fluctuations.