Fitness & Wellness

Outdoor sports events are especially popular in first-tier and new first-tier cities, which accounts for around 65% of the nations outdoor sports enthusiasts. Some of the top rising outdoor sports in China include trail running, skiing/snowboarding, hiking, and ultra-running events. 

The rise of outdoor sports in China has led to the success of brands like lululemon, Salomon, Arc’Teryx, Kailas to be incorporated into daily fashion. 

The sports industry in China is booming. Football is gaining more and more popularity in China and the establishment of football academies by famous clubs, such as Ajax and Bayern football school, marked a new era for this sport in the Chinese market. Currently, roughly 50 million Chinese people play football, among which 30 million are students, but they are expected to increase in the future.

Even though football is spreading among Chinese young people, the NBA remains around six times more popular than European football leagues. Indeed, basketball courts are ubiquitous in China since about 18% of Chinese sport lovers enjoy playing basketball regularly.

Chinese consumers like engaging in a wide range of fitness activities. Since 2024, Hyrox (a cross-fit like competition) has boomed in China. Other fitness practices like yoga and pilates have risen as well. 

Martial arts, such as Taiqi, Wushu and Kung fu, are deeply rooted in Chinese culture. Nevertheless, foreign self-defense techniques are gaining ground, and boxing is maybe the most successful one. Women are a growing target consumer base for boxing in China, since several female celebrities contributed to make it popular on Chinese social media platforms as an effective way to keep fit. Although it remains a niche sport, China’s boxing market is expected to hit 856 billion RMB in 2022.

Nowadays, Chinese consumers are quite familiar with the concept of meal replacement and Euromonitor International forecasts that their market size may reach 120 billion RMB in 2022, surfing the growing health awareness in China. However, there is still a widespread lack of confidence in this new health product in China. If they really want to increase sales, meal replacement producers need to focus more efforts on convincing Chinese consumers about their products’ health benefits and their capability of replacing a solid meal without compromising nutrition intakes.

Even though practicality remains a key factor when it comes to purchase sportswear, nowadays, Chinese consumers pay more and more attention to function and comfort.

China’s sportswear and athletic footwear market rose to nearly RMB 600 billion in 2025. Athleisure is one of the most significant categories of sportswear in China. The category has the highest CAGR with sportswear, at 9.7%.

Sportswear has displaced traditional luxury fashion as aspirational fashion. Chinese netizens have even coined the term “three middle-class treasures” (中产三宝) to describe the sportswear brands Salomon, Arc’Teryx and Descente.