The second annual Global Sportswear Design Award concluded in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian province on June 14, recognizing 40 outstanding works by young talents in both the footwear and apparel categories.

Organizers, contestants, judges, and experts pose for a group photo at the end of the second Global Sportswear Design Award held in Xiamen, Fujian province, June 14, 2024. [Photo courtesy of Anta Group]

The "Triassic Era" water tracing and hiking dual-use outdoor shoes, designed by Yang Mengshi, Hu Ruochen, Ning Jin, and Zhang Haoyu, won the gold award in the footwear category, while the sports lifestyle concept piece "Lan Breath," created by Jia Sanchuan, Ru Chen, Li Wenxin, and Tong Tong, took the top prize in the apparel category. Each winning group was awarded 500,000 yuan ($70,000).

The competition also presented silver and bronze awards, as well as prizes for future stars, nominations, and innovative applications of new materials. The total prize pool reached 2.24 million yuan. In the coming months, winning entries will receive mentor guidance and undergo sample production, with a press conference planned for September 2024 to launch the award-winning works.

The gold award-winning works in the footwear and apparel categories of the second Global Sportswear Design Award. [Image courtesy of Anta Group]

"I want to thank our young designers for contributing their collective strength to the future innovation of the sports equipment industry," said Zhao Chao, associate dean of the Academy of Arts & Design at Tsinghua University (AADTHU). "We hope that in the future, we can leverage this platform, the competition, cooperative research, and cross-disciplinary collaboration not only to drive innovation in China's sports equipment industry but also to create a new paradigm in the global process through design-driven innovation, thus exploring new paths for future innovation-led sports equipment."

Chen Ke, chief operating officer of Anta Group, stated: "We firmly believe innovation is the basis for a company's survival. In the future, we will continue to strengthen and explore new entrepreneurial models and innovative paths. We also hope that more global partners will join us in promoting the development of the sports equipment industry."

Zhao Chao, associate dean of the Academy of Arts & Design at Tsinghua University (AADTHU), speaks at the second Global Sportswear Design Award held in Xiamen, Fujian province, June 14, 2024. [Photo courtesy of Anta Group]

The award ceremony featured keynote speeches by Dominique Simard, founder of Rethink Fashion and former executive director of the Condé Nast Center of Fashion & Design, on the sustainable transformation of the fashion industry, and Tomitsch Martin, head of the Transdisciplinary School at the University of Technology Sydney, on the evolution of design and innovations. A roundtable panel discussion was also held, focusing on development trends in sports fashion. As China continues to deepen its globalization, the transition from "Made in China" to "Designed in China" and "Created in China" is becoming an important step for Chinese enterprises to continue advancing and investing in the field of design.

"Design is about dreaming and not being afraid to make mistakes," stated Simon Collins, chief creative officer of the Design Innovation Institute Shanghai and former creative director of Nike. "We are very, very good at educating people to follow the rules, to figure out what the rules are, then follow them. It's important that we have a framework, but if we don't have emotion, if we don't actually care about what we're doing, we're going to produce mediocrity and mediocrity isn't really worth doing. So, I encourage everyone – while you must understand what design is and you must apply it everywhere – if you don't do it with emotion, you're really not doing the job properly."

The Global Sportswear Design Award, jointly launched by Tsinghua University and Anta Group, is the first global sporting goods product design competition in the industry that invites worldwide participation. In 2021, the two parties established the Tsinghua University-Anta Group Joint Research Center for Sports Fashion to encourage industry innovation in sports and launched the award, with the inaugural selection process culminating in the award ceremony in 2022.

Experts join a roundtable panel during the second Global Sportswear Design Award in Xiamen, Fujian province, June 14, 2024. [Photo courtesy of Anta Group]

The second edition of the award, themed "MOVEvolution - Insight into the Future," was launched in July last year, inviting innovative sports equipment designs from around the world that focus on the digital intelligent future, trend fashion, and environmental protection. The competition sought to provide a platform for young designers globally to realize their creative dreams, discover and nurture talent through the integration of industry, academia, and research, and drive the development of China's sports fashion design field. Participants were encouraged to explore and shape the future of sports equipment in a more diverse and eco-friendly manner.

The second competition attracted a total of 2,304 entries, including 618 professional submissions from career designers and 321 entries from overseas, spanning various fields such as sports shoes, clothing, and accessories. The final rankings of the 40 shortlisted works in the two categories were determined at the finals held on June 13, after a rigorous scoring process by dozens of experts from design organizations and internationally renowned institutions. The judging panel included Lu Xiaobo, a distinguished professor of arts, humanities, and social sciences at Tsinghua University; Peter Childs, fellow of the U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering and founding dean of the School of Innovation Design Engineering at Imperial College London; and David Grossman, former president of the International Council of Design.

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