Race for the world

PORTLAND, Oregon – The next few years will see a big race for the feet of people. And it will be won on television, on the basketball courts, and in advertising. Three stripes versus the swoosh. Adidas making a big push to finally catch Nike, and basketball may be its fastest ticket.

"Adidas basketball is the fastest-growing basketball company on the planet," declares David Bond, head of basketball and US sports for the large multinational sportswear company. "In 2000, we realLy got our act together as a brand, and we're up 25 % in the basketball category."

According to Bond, who once served in almost the same capacity at Adidas' main rival, Nike holds roughly 49 to 52 percent of the market share, with Adidas hovering around the 22 percent mark. However, he claims that precise numbers are difficult to define, since each footwear manufacturer classifies its shoes differently. Retro and reissued shoes such as the Air Max and old Air Jordans are categorized under basketball for Nike, he says, while at Adidas, reissues are under their Originals premium line.

"The US is the largest region, about 75-80% of the basketball business," he clarifies. "Asia is the second-largest, bigger than Europe for basketball and the fastest growing. There is a large fashion following for basketball in Japan, for example. And there's a large participation in China and the Philippines and other countries. I think Yao Ming potentially being the next great player opened up the world's eyes for both the potential of the athlete and the market."

The Houston Rockets' rookie center also has shoe and apparel makers salivating over the 1.2 billion potential consumers in his homeland. March will be a huge month for attempts to penetrate the Chinese market, since Yao Ming's previous endorsements will expire by then. The tug-of-war will begin.

Meanwhile, Adidas is counting on its current main weapon, the T-Mac and T-Mac 2 worn by NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady of the Orlando Magic. The T-Mac sold over a million pairs in the United States in 2002, and the $100 T-Mac 2 may well outsell its older brother.

"Tracy is one of the younger, strongest players that we have. His style is very new school, very fluid, very fresh, so we're trying to bring in the styling elements of Tracy's game and create shoes," explains Natalie Candrian, footwear designer and creator of the T-Mac series. "He was very happy with his first shoe, and he sort of let me run with my ideas."

The battle for Asia may not be the same as the war for the United States, as Bond explains.

"The sport itself is more of mainstream culture, youth culture in the US," the 37-year old executive elaborates. "The Asian market is a bunch of different markets, not just one market. It's hard to generalize. You have to be good in Korea, good in Japan, good in China. And they are very, very different markets."

Strangely enough, female basketball players prefer using men's shoes for hops, mistakenly believing them to be better. And since Nike and Reebok have taken the first step in acquiring female endorsers for the sport, Adidas is taking a different tack.

"We're obviously a smaller company than Nike, but once we get to a certain level, we have to obviously get involved with women's basketball. We do support it at the high school level, college level and teams like (former WNCAA champion) Tennessee."

The race continues, with basketball leading the way to the hearts of footwear consumers.