China’s Anta Is Fastest-Growing Sneaker Brand on StockX

Chinese sportswear giant Anta signed Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving to a signature sneaker deal in 2023. The partnership has been quietly propelling Anta ever since. 

Anta is the fastest-growing sneaker brand on resale platform StockX, and it’s all because of the Kai 1, Irving’s signature shoe, which saw a 1,900% growth in trades year over year on a global basis. (StockX calls orders “trades.”) The spike in trade volume since the shoe launched in March 2024 shows how fast the shoe—which has a few dozen colorways—has translated from primary-market to secondary-market popularity.

The average price for Anta sneakers on the resale platform was 20% above retail price ($100 to $125) last year.

Anta is determined to crack the basketball shoe market beyond China, and believes partnering with NBA players is its way in. Earlier this month, Anta signed three more NBA players to endorsement deals: Mavericks center Daniel Gafford, Los Angeles Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr., and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Caris LeVert.

Irving signed with Anta in 2023 after he was dropped by Nike in late 2022 following antisemitic social media posts. The deal with Anta came with a chief creative officer title. The sportswear giant also has signature shoes with Klay Thompson, but its stellar growth this past year is “because of Kyrie Irving,” StockX director of sneakers and collectibles Drew Haines tells Front Office Sports.

Chinese Brands Signing American Stars

Li-Ning, another Chinese sportswear giant, is the seventh-fastest-growing brand on StockX, with a 113% sales jump in 2024, thanks to Dwyane Wade’s signature shoes—and Wade retired from the NBA in 2019.

“Chinese brands understand what they need to do to gain share with the U.S. customer,” says Haines. “Find an athlete popular in America not signed by Nike or Adidas, and offer them a signature sneaker that brings something unique to the market.”

Anta, Li-Ning, and other up-and-coming Chinese brands are “just scratching the surface,” Haines says. “There are so many players that don’t have sneaker contracts. They might be signed to a shoe deal … but they don’t have a signature shoe.”

If a Chinese brand can come in, at the draft or early in a player’s career, and offer a signature sneaker deal, it’s a chance to grab a future NBA star early.

Haines says Anta’s momentum is so far continuing into 2025, with likely help from rumors that a Kai 2 might be on the way.

Anta and Li-Ning have already been eating into Nike’s and Adidas’s long-held sneaker dominance in China, as FOS has reported, and other markets are in their sights. Anta’s share of the sportswear market in China rose from 14% in 2019 to 19% in 2023, while Li-Ning’s slice grew from 6% to 9% over the same period, equity research firm Bernstein wrote last October. Changes in sneaker market share were similar.

“I don’t think that a lot of Americans care about Anta and Li Ning specifically—it’s the player and the shoes, not the brand,” Morningstar retail analyst David Swartz tells FOS. 

On the Resale Rise

Among StockX’s best-selling sneakers for 2024 were some of the usual suspects: Nike, Jordan Brand, Adidas, New Balance, and Asics. These names were all in the top five most-traded sneakers on the platform the year before—except Asics. 

Saucony also made it into the top five fastest-growing sneaker brands on StockX in 2024 at No. 5. The old-school brand saw 120% growth in sales volume last year. 

Asics, not a brand people associate with the sneakerhead community, is “the biggest story from a brand perspective,” Haines says. “They had an incredible year. Eighteen months ago, if you would’ve told me Asics would be in the top five bestsellers, I probably would’ve laughed at you.”

As with other challenger sneaker brands recently, the success of Asics and Saucony can be attributed to the explosion of the retro running shoe trend that has also boosted the fortunes of Adidas, New Balance, and others. The athleisure and running gear fashion trend, no longer brand-new, shows no signs of slowing.