Are The Chinese Brands Surging Ahead?

My first observations about someone are always about their footwear. I have done this ever since I was a teenager, I would be curious about people's shoes. I always look at what shoes a person is wearing especially if they are a runner. Of course as a physiotherapist now, I do the same.

If you are a runner you may or may not have heard of Anta, Li-Ning, Qiaodan, Xstep. They were usually unheard of a few years ago and dismissed as inferior to Nike, Adidas, Asics and New Balance (sorry if your brand is not listed). 

However, Chinese Super running shoes with their carbon fiber plates and super foam are increasingly becoming mainstream compared to before. Selemon Barega (Tokyo Olympics 10 000 m winner) switched from Nike to Li-Ning 3 days before the race and won the 2025 Seville marathon in an impressive 2:05:15 hours.

Some Chinese running brands have already set up shops in Singapore. Li-Ning has 2 stores here while Anta now has 11 stores after opening their first in 2023.

There may still be perceptions of Chinese Super shoes as being lower quality and/ or durability. They are definitely cheaper costing between S$150-200 a pair compared to more than S$300 for Super shoes from established brands.

I have definitely noticed some of my patients using Chinese super running shoes. My patients say that they are not only cheaper than the established brands, they seem to have even more energy return and propulsion. Personally, I have not tried any of the Chinese running brands yet.

Not just with running shoes, it seems. If you happen to be a cyclist you may have heard of Winspace or X-Lab? Some cyclists still regard cycling tech from China as cheap and/or  counterfeit. Too good to be true or too dangerous to use because of high failure rate.

Cycling World Tour team XDS Astana is using a carbon fiber bike made by X-Lab. This is the last team Mark Cavendish, who has won the most stages in the Tour De France rode for albeit on a different bike before he retired last year.

Winspace wheels are much cheaper compared to Campagnolo, Enve or Lightweight wheels. Lightweight's Meilenstein Art wheels cost $8000 while Winspace's Lun Hyper go for $1500. At almost the same weight, with a deeper rim profile, it ticks all the boxes. Winspace wheels have even been rated as excellent by engineering expert Hambini. They are also UCI approved. Matter of time before they get used at a World Tour level race or even at the Tour De France.

Will I consider Winspace's wheels? I currently use Campagnolo's WTO 45mm Bora wheels on rim brakes. I am not a fan of disc brakes on road bikes. Personally, I think bicycles have gotten more expensive and more complicated with disc brakes. I am sure bike manufacturers like the higher margins that come along with them too. When it becomes impossible to find a rim brake wheelset from a mainstream brand I may have to switch to them since Winspaceare committed to supporting both disc and rim brakes.

See how cheap they are

I still look at cheap carbon wheels, shoes, ceramic pulleys on AliExpress and Shopee (above). For reference, my Ceramic Speed pulley wheels alone cost $500 a pair. I'm not telling you the price to brag, but to make a point. I'm tempted to use them, but horror stories that show up online have steered me away so far.

2 Pirelli tubes on the left

Except for my inner tubes. Previously I used the very expensive Pirelli TPU inner tubes for my bike. I am now using TPU inner tubes made from China. They are so many different brands now. China has created many cheaper alternatives to the popular TPU-based inner tubes from Pirelli or Tubolito that cost $30 compared to $8 ones from China. Well, far so good, they have not let me down yet.

What do you readers think? Are Chinese brands taking the world by storm? BYD cars are now most popular in Singapore while mainland Chinese food and beverage brands are also growing their brands here.