Anta basketball shoes
Like many greats of today, Anta has humble beginnings. It came at a time when brands from the West like Adidas and Nike successfully entered and established themselves in the local Chinese market. Like many, the Chinese fell to the spell. They were enamored by the promise of greatness that these brands bring. Foreign products such as the German Adidas shoes and American Nike sneakers became so successful that they became the standard against which any new player in the vibrant sportswear industry is measured.
Fast forward to 2015, Anta made efforts to sign Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson, who just finished his rookie contract with Nike.
The bid to win Thompson over is not the company’s first time to tap an NBA player. It already has partnerships with the likes of Kevin Garnett, Chandler Parsons, Luis Scola, and Rajon Rondo. Some of these players were even given signature Anta basketball shoes.
“I didn’t know much about Anta,” Klay admitted. But he knew that making it big in the US sneaker scene is not going to be easy for him. Yes he can always sign with Adidas and, of course Nike once more. There's also Jordan and Under Armour. But signature shoes from these giants are just so hard to come by. “I knew with Anta, I would have so much input creatively. I was going to hopefully be the Michael Jordan one day of Anta. That really resonated with me, and knowing that I could be really big in China, that was really cool to me. The shoe market sometimes is overflooded in the States, and I thought, ‘Well, why not branch out and be global.'”
Without a doubt, Klay Thompson is Anta’s golden boy. The optimism upon his signing in early 2015 surely did not go to waste. Just a few months after joining Anta, his career made huge strides forward. In June, the Golden State Warriors emerged as the NBA champions. The points that he contributed together his Splash Brother Stephen Curry helped secure for the Warriors their first championship title in many years.
That win is both inspirational and special not only for the men but also for the basketball sneaker brands that they represent. They toppled the Cleveland Cavaliers, which was led by no less than The King himself, Nike’s LeBron James. Klay Thompson’s Anta and Stephen Curry's Under Armour got an extra boost of motivation. They may be the underdogs in the world of basketball sneakers, but that win just made it clear that somehow it is still possible to win over the giants, albeit in battles carefully chosen.
The creative behind Anta basketball shoes
Not much is known about the designers of Anta basketball shoes. However, the company has Robbie Fuller, a senior design director for Adidas shoes who left his job to be Anta’s creative director of footwear. Before working on Klay Thompson basketball shoes, Robbie Fuller had direct and indirect participation in the design of signature basketball shoes for Damian Lillard, Derrick Rose’s signature sneakers, and John Wall basketball shoes.
