Found in translation: Nike’s China design reset

Nike unveiled its first “Local Creation” collection in China on October 13, developed by a newly formed local product creation team. The clothes go on sale on November 12 at selected Nike and Jordan stores, Lanjing reported. In the past, localization at Nike often meant adapting global products with Chinese colorways and cultural storytelling. This time, Chinese consumer needs shaped silhouettes, fabrics, construction and styling from the start. That marks a shift in Nike’s China strategy, with local teams now creating the product itself. The collection includes more than 20 apparel pieces across two capsules, Nike Sportswear’s Liuxing (流形, roughly “flowing form”) and Jordan Streetwear’s Lishi (立势, roughly “standing tall”). It also uses five new materials developed for the Chinese market. The Shanghai-based team behind it is led by Flavia Cervantes, Nike’s vice president of Local Creation for Greater China. Development took 122 days. That is less than half the time Nike usually needs to develop comparable apparel globally. The faster cycle is Nike’s attempt to shorten the distance between changing consumer needs in China and the products that reach the market. How Nike’s local product creation process works in China Behind that speed is a different way of organizing product creation. Local design and development teams join the process earlier, and Nike’s manufacturing partners in China weigh in sooner on materials and fit. The team worked inside factories in several Chinese cities, testing materials and reviewing samples alongside those partners, according to Nike. “This end-to-end creation process, from consumer insight all the way to product creation, is new,” said Cathy Sparks, Nike’s vice president and general manager for Greater China. “We haven’t done that to this extent before.” Sparks said the aim is to respond to local needs while keeping Nike’s global innovation capabilities and distinct design language. Nike’s launch release frames the collection the same way, describing it as Chinese consumer insight combined with the company’s global expertise in design and innovation. Chinese teams now have more room to shape the product, but the result still has to feel unmistakably Nike. Speed matters because Nike is losing ground in China. Its Greater China revenue fell 22% year-on-year to $1.18 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, according to The Paper. Domestic rivals such as Anta and Li Ning have taken share by responding faster to local trends. Nike is betting that local teams can close that gap and win back Chinese consumers. “Competition makes us better,” Sparks told Jing Daily. What comes next for Nike’s Local Creation team and Chinese designers As the Local Creation team expands — Sparks said it will double in size again — Nike is also bringing more young Chinese designers into its creative system. Zhuang Shiying, a Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology designer who recently came through Jordan Design Studio, is one of them. Those 20-plus pieces are a starting point. Nike said in its launch release that Local Creation will expand into more product categories and experiences. In July, the company said performance apparel and footwear would follow the first lifestyle capsules. Sparks wants local teams to play a greater role in shaping Nike’s innovation agenda across Asia and globally. For Nike, that would make China a source of product innovation for the wider company, beyond a market for China exclusives South Korean outdoor label Helinox enters China On October 10, South Korean outdoor brand Helinox opened its “Take a Seat Shanghai” pop-up in the first-floor atrium of Shanghai’s Iapm mall, introducing its apparel line, Helinox Wear, to China for the first time. The pop-up runs until October 27. Built around a “Wearable Gear” concept, Helinox Wear applies the lightweight engineering behind the brand’s camping furniture to clothing, across its One, Zero and Edition collections. Helinox has sold its gear in China through a Tmall flagship since 2025. The China business is now run by Helinox China, a joint venture between Helinox and Kolon Industries’ FnC division, which launched Helinox Wear in South Korea in October 2025. Permanent stores at Iapm and ITC will follow in December, and the company aims to have more than 30 stores in premium malls in first-tier cities by 2030. Puma reunites with ‘The Powerpuff Girls’ for Fall/Winter collection Puma has again partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products on a Fall/Winter collection based on “The Powerpuff Girls,” the animated series that first aired in 1998. Themed “Power to the Girls,” the collection mixes Y2K nostalgia with retro-futurism, according to Puma’s Japanese release. It includes faux-leather jackets, sweatshirts, long-sleeve and ringer T-shirts, beanies and bags, along with character versions of three Puma shoes: the Bella Mina, Tuff and Park Luna. The collection launched in Japan on October 1. April’s debut drop was a Speedcat capsule sold only on Puma.com in Asia. A second season covering more categories suggests Puma sees the license as a longer-term brand asset, with the characters now moving into everyday clothing. Chinese brand Warrior 1927 unveils Spring/Summer 2027 collection in Paris Warrior 1927, the youth-focused sub-brand of Shanghai footwear label Warrior (回力), presented its Spring/Summer 2027 collection, “Jing Yan Qian Xing,” in Paris on October 3. The show, Bonjour Echoes 2026, was organized by Bonjour Brand at the Palais Brongniart during Paris Fashion Week, where Warrior 1927 shared the runway with fellow Chinese labels Jun By Yangjun and Raxxy. Its three lines draw on different sources. Jingwu 2.0 (精武, martial excellence) builds on a line the brand first showed in Paris in 2024, this time drawing on the martial arts of Lingnan, the southern region centered on Guangdong. Everyday Wear takes its cues from Shanghai’s cultural heritage, and Lab 1927 is the brand’s experimental line. For footwear, Warrior 1927 reworked its WK79 tennis shoe and unveiled a limited-edition design for the Year of the Goat, which begins on February 6, 2027. Paris is familiar ground: Warrior 1927 debuted there in September 2024 and showed in Milan in September 2025. The overseas runway push comes alongside fast growth at home. The sub-brand opened more than 1,000 stores in two years, nearly 200 of them large stores selling both footwear and apparel.

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Found in translation: Nike’s China design reset