Sportswear brand FILA has managed to sustain single-digit growth. On August 26, ANTA Sports released its financial report showing that from January to June, FILA generated revenue of 15.05 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%. At this pace, annual revenue is expected to surpass the 30 billion yuan mark.

During the same period, profitability improved, with operating profit reaching 4.32 billion yuan, outpacing revenue growth. The operating profit margin rose to 28.7%, an increase of one percentage point. However, ANTA Sports' earlier plan to grow FILA's revenue to between 40 billion and 50 billion yuan by 2026 appears increasingly out of reach, with even the lower target unlikely to be met.

"More and more brands are competing for the middle-class wallet, and FILA's existing customer base is being diverted," said industry veteran Zhang Yuan in an interview. FILA has moved past its high-growth phase, and its challenge has shifted from "how fast can it grow" to "how steadily can it hold."

This half-year report coincides with the one-and-a-half-year anniversary of FILA's new leadership and the first anniversary of the ONE FILA strategy. In early 2025, Yao Weixiong, who had led FILA for nearly 16 years, stepped down upon reaching retirement age, and Jiang Yan took over. Jiang, a homegrown executive at ANTA who previously managed ANTA Kids and FILA FUSION, is one of the few core leaders with a marketing background.

Jiang introduced the ONE FILA strategy, which consolidates the main line, FUSION, KIDS, and Golf product lines under a single "high-end sports fashion" identity, so consumers see one FILA rather than a collection of sub-brands. "FILA needs to consolidate the brand equity built across its business lines back under the parent brand while focusing resources on core middle-class and high-value consumers," said Chen Jingjing, a brand strategy expert and founder of Jingjie Interactive.

Since then, actions have been rolled out rapidly. On the brand front, FILA upgraded to become the exclusive official sportswear and footwear sponsor of the China Open, signing top-ranked player Bu Yunchaokete, and sponsored the Volvo China Open, signing Chinese golfer Yin Ruoning. In March, FILA returned to the official Milan Fashion Week calendar with its new MILANO premium sports fashion collection.

On the product side, resources have been concentrated on hero items, with the dad-shoe family selling over 5 million pairs in the first half. The Muse set, representing a new womenswear category, sold over 600,000 units and emerged as a growth driver. In retail, the 1,500-square-meter FILA TOPIA flagship store in Xi'an opened in January, rearranging displays by consumer scenarios rather than sub-brand zones, while ICONA and BIELLA concept stores expanded into more cities.

Despite these moves, the growth curve has not turned upward. FILA's revenue grew 16.6% in 2023, 6.1% in 2024, 6.9% in 2025, and 6.1% in the first half of this year—a flattening trajectory. ANTA Sports chairman Ding Shizhong remains unfazed. "For a brand exceeding 10 billion yuan, high growth is tough," he said, adding that FILA's roughly 30 billion yuan scale cannot be expected to surge, and steady growth is the goal.

The FILA team has been working hard to sustain growth. The brand has branched from core products into FUSION for trend-conscious consumers and a kids' line, expanding from tennis and golf into outdoor wear, selling high-end sportswear from one person to the whole family. Yet even a cash cow inevitably ages.

Chen Jingjing believes FILA's healthy growth depends on healthy inventory and discount levels. The biggest gap to repair now is the pricing system. FILA's push into e-commerce has supported overall volume but at a cost. The rising e-commerce share has dragged down gross margin from 69% in 2023 to 66.4% in 2025. The discount gap between online and offline is even more visible.

Brokerage data shows FILA's average offline discount is about 7.5折 (25% off), while online it is 6折 (40% off). A visit to a FILA store in a Shanghai mall revealed strict offline discount control: a woven top priced at 780 yuan required buying three items to get an 8.8折 discount, costing about 686 yuan. The same style online was 583 yuan per item, dropping to 508 yuan with platform promotions—a gap of about 170 yuan.

"The deeper the online discounts, the weaker the appeal of full-price offline stores, and the harder it is to maintain a premium position," Zhang Yuan said. He noted that the attractiveness of new products and offline channel items will suffer, urging a focus on urban female consumers' aesthetics and needs while enforcing price discipline.

Jiang's team is seeing early results. In the first half, both operating profit and operating margin improved. "Going forward, the metrics for FILA's growth quality are shifting from store count to per-customer spending, cross-category purchases, and repurchase efficiency," Chen said, emphasizing that the real test is whether brand mindshare converts into consumer value.

The adjustments are still underway, and while tactics can be refined, market cycles cannot be negotiated. Even Nike, with nearly 50 billion yuan in China, struggles to defend its position. Middle-class preferences are fluid, and customers are hard to win but easy to lose.

That is why Ding Shizhong insists on a multi-brand strategy. FILA once absorbed customers trading up from ANTA; now it catches users seeking substitutes for Descente and Kolon. Without enough new consumers, the market becomes a zero-sum game, and the marginal benefits of multi-branding diminish.

Globalization is the way out, and Ding's new targets—Jack Wolfskin and Puma—are anchored in that opportunity. For FILA itself, ANTA Sports only holds operating rights for mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore. Jiang's team can focus on deepening these licensed markets.

Chen noted that FILA has built a large middle-class family customer base, and the true value of ONE FILA lies in connecting previously siloed consumer assets across tennis, golf, KIDS, footwear, and fashion to drive cross-selling. Another growth lever comes from category expansion driven by hero products, rather than broadly adding new categories.

FILA holds special significance for ANTA Sports. Through operating FILA, management developed a brand-building methodology, validated it with Descente and Kolon, and will replicate it with Jack Wolfskin and Puma. If one FILA stands firm, more "FILAs" can follow.

In the 2026 half-year report, Ding Shizhong was direct: respect each brand's development rhythm, invest patiently, and do not overdraw the brand's future for short-term gains. For FILA today, holding steady at 30 billion yuan and protecting the middle-class wallet is a greater test of patience than chasing a 40 billion yuan scale.

(Zhang Yuan is a pseudonym.)