Xtep takes next step on marathon trail

XTEP INTERNATIONAL Holdings Limited, the Chinese sportswear brand, has added the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2012 to its growing portfolio of marathon-based sponsorships.

Frontiers values the deal at between $100,000 and $200,000, compared to around $75,000 for Xtep’s other city marathon apparel sponsorships in the Chinese market.

Last year, Xtep, which has 7,000 retail outlets across China, sponsored a total of nine marathons organised in mainland China and Taiwan.

In the first half of this year, the company sponsored five major international marathons: the Taipei Freeway Marathon, the China Zheng-Kai International Marathon (Henan, China), the 2011 Jianzhen International Half Marathon Tournament (Yangzhou, China), the 26th Summer World University Games – Shenzhen, China (USA and the Great Britain teams) and the 2011 Fubon Taipei International Marathon.

Xtep’s sponsorship of the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon marks the first time in 16 years that a mainland China-based brand has been introduced as an apparel partner.

Xtep will supply competition apparel for up to 70,000 athletes from around the world for what is Hong Kong's largest marathon. The prize money for this year's competition has been increased to $227,000.

Internationally, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed company is also the main sponsor of Birmingham City FC in a five-year deal worth £7m, and the main shirt sponsor of Spain’s Villareal in another five-year deal.