Converse wants to sell basketball shoes, Anta may not agree

Text|SightSight

Converse may also want to regain the dream of making a three-step layup.

Recently, in the NBA Finals G2 competition, the Thunder played against the Pacers at home. In the last G1 game, the Pacers Halliburton relied on the last 0.3 seconds of "Hali Magic" reversal. It was G2's turn, and the Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander easily defeated his opponent 123:107, pulling the score back to a 1:1 draw.

With Alexander's appearance, the first signature shoe Shai001 created by Converse is also eye-catching. Alexander has been wearing these pair of combat boots for half a season, but the shoe has not been able to come to the hands of ordinary consumers for a long time. During the pre-game warm-up session, Converse revealed the new Shai001 color scheme "MasiBlue". The new model is expected to be available this fall and costs $130 a pair.

For the public, Converse seems to have been popular in the basketball court for a long time. Since the emergence of Nike AJ in the 1980s, Converse's connection with basketball has become increasingly alienated.

Although there have been some responses to the signing of Dwyane Wade, Payton Pritchard, etc., the influence on the brand on the basketball stage has always been limited. When it comes to Converse, most people think of canvas shoes with trendy attributes.

However, due to the lack of innovation, out-of-control volume, and the flood of discounts, Converse, which is immersed in street fashion culture, has gradually become weak. At the same time, Converse, which is gradually moving away from basketball culture, is also losing the value assistance of professional sports. In the latest quarterly financial report, Converse revenue fell 18%, the biggest drop since fiscal 2025.

Betting on the controversial Alexander may be regarded as an important measure for Converse to further increase its investment in the professional basketball field and find business breakthroughs. But while Converse is moving around, in addition to the goalkeepers in the two fields of Nike and Adidas, competitors such as Puma are also ready to defend.

For example, when Halliburton G1 staged its finale, its first signature shoe, PUMAHali1 "Hibiscus (Hibiscus)" appeared in the NBA for the first time, attracting attention from the outside world; Li Ning Wade's Way and Gamma series attracted a large number of loyalists; Anta Irving's generation triggered a market robbery. On the road to re-verification of basketball genes, Converse still has many challenges.

Return to Hometown

Converse is the first brand in the world to produce basketball shoes. In 1917, Converse launched the All-Star basketball shoes. Subsequently, at the suggestion of athlete Charles Taylor, Converse upgraded AllStar in line with modern basketball concepts, and continuously improved the design from sole pattern, heel and arch support to instep reinforcement and foot protection.

In 1923, Converse Fusion Taylor's nickname "Chuck", printed "ChuckTaylor" on the product logo. Since then, Converse, which is currently invincible, has grown all the way in the basketball shoe market. Until the mid-1980s, Converse still occupied the top spot in league sneakers.

However, in 1984, a five-year, $2.5 million contract with Jordan made Converse lose its position as the dominant player in the basketball world. Nike, who signed Jordan, quickly occupied the market with the AJ series, and its sales leap from US$800 million to US$4 billion in five years. On the contrary, Converse's growth momentum in the United States is gradually weakening and its market share is shrinking.

In fact, in the first decade of the 21st century, Converse had many influential basketball superstars. Kobe once wore Converse to the NBA; at that time, spokesperson Wade also wore the first pair of Converse signature shoes in his career and reached his peak and won the league championship.

But after ending its cooperation with Wade, Converse chose to plunge into the trendy market and embrace street culture. Since then, Converse has turned to focus on basketball, and it has basically reached 2019.

At that time, Converse launched the new AllStar ProBB. It is reported that the development cycle of this shoe is more than one and a half years, and it has been through more than 50 test versions before the final design was finalized. But in addition to appearance, this shoe has been criticized for its torsion resistance and comfort, and the market response is mediocre.

Performance bottleneck

During the epidemic and the post-epidemic period, Converse followed Nike on a performance roller coaster. In the early stage, the brand benefited from the high DTC model revenue to achieve significant growth. However, as the popular sports trends shift towards running tracks and practical comfort, Converse, like Nike, is in an irreversible dangerous situation like Nike, and other factors, taking over the dealer shelves, attracting more consumers' attention; new product innovation is weak and high inventories; discounts frequently contude brand image and reduce profit margins.

In fiscal year 2024, Converse's total revenue was US$2.08 billion, a year-on-year decline of 14%; in the first half of fiscal year 2025, the year-on-year decline in brand revenue expanded to 16%, the largest decline in ten years. The latest third-quarter report shows that Converse's revenue during the period fell 18% year-on-year to US$410 million, and the decline in a quarter further expanded; profit before interest and tax fell sharply by 60% to US$39 million. In the first three quarters of fiscal year 2025, Converse's revenue fell 17% year-on-year to US$1.34 billion, and its profit before interest and tax fell 44% to US$210 million.

Amid the intense restructuring of parent company Nike, finding new areas has also become an important task for Converse. In the street culture where Converse was more focused later, skateboarding was the most promising development direction and was also very suitable for the development of the main brand category of shoe products..

But taking the domestic market as an example, skateboarding is still relatively niche compared to other indoor and outdoor sports. The number of events and the influence of events are far less than that of large-scale events such as conventional basketball and marathons, and even less than the season-limited ice and snow events. The promotion cost is higher and the growth effect is not obvious.

Perhaps therefore, Converse has retraceed its brand history and plans to start from its old basketball industry and tentatively rejuvenate its new roots.

There is a long way to go

However, whether Converse returns to the basketball field is still a good business remains to be discussed.

First of all, the strong competitors on the track are too dense and powerful.

In addition to Nike, which has an overwhelming advantage and Adidas, there is also Puma, who is in full swing. According to data disclosed by NBAShoesDB, the world's largest NBA sneaker database, Puma has become the fourth-ranked brand of sneakers selected by NBA League players.

In the finals, the Pacers and the Thunder faced each other's stars, Halliburton and Alexander, also wore the Puma's Hali1 and Converse's Shai001 respectively, which attracted widespread attention from the public.

Among them, Hali1 uses a woven upper as the main material, with leather, hot pressing and TPU as the auxiliary; the midsole uses exposed Nitro supercritical foam material to form a tough and elastic barefoot feel, which has won praise from many consumers; the flip-up design of the inner and outer sides of the outsole body also enhances the "anti-flip stability", and the overall practical sports function.

The upper of Shai001 is all made of leather, connected to the outsole, wrapping the entire midsole material in the shoe cabin; the midsole is made of CX foam, and the ZoomAir air cushion is placed horizontally in the forefoot, and there is a primary twisting piece in the midfoot.

From the appearance, Shai001 may be more fashionable and trendy, and has a more design-like feel than Hali1. However, for the sake of styling, wear details such as breathability and rollover protection are also abandoned, which may be more difficult in the performance of sports performance and the promotion of shoes.

At present, Puma's own performance is worrying. In the first quarter of this year, Puma's revenue increased slightly by 0.1% year-on-year, and its profit before interest and tax fell by 63.7% year-on-year to 57.7 million euros. During the same period, news came out of Puma that it would lay off 500 employees worldwide. According to Puma, the layoff plan will be completed before the end of the second quarter.

Therefore, Puma may work hard on professional sports and diversified layout. In the field of racing and football that has already been mastered, Puma has increased its F1 event sponsorship and announced that Ferrari F1 team driver Charles Leclerc is a global brand spokesperson, and has won most seats in the Premier League and Club World Cup. At the same time, it has also continuously updated its shoes in the basketball field to strengthen professional performance construction.

On the other hand, although the European and American basketball markets are divided by brands such as Nike, Adidas, Jordan, and Puma, for example, in other markets in China, local sports shoes and clothing brands such as Li Ning and Anta should not be underestimated. After the wild rise of national trend consumption caused by the Xinjiang cotton incident, domestic sports brands seized the withdrawal share of international big brands and jumped to the forefront of the Taiwan market, and their influence gradually increased.

In April 2021, Li Ning Wade's Way 4 All-Star Silver Model was priced at 48,889 yuan on the Dewu App. It is reported that the reference price of the shoe is only 1,499 yuan, an increase of 33 times; Anta's joint shoes also saw a price increase of more than 8 times.

According to the 2024 shoe king list released by Dewu, in the actual sneaker list, Li Ning's Gamma Ray Blast surpassed Nike AirZoomG.T.Cut3 to become the first in the sub-track, and Anta Irving Generation followed closely behind. Domestic sports brands have built certain barriers in the field of basketball shoes.

Secondly, apart from the squeeze of competitors, the number of people paying attention in the basketball field is declining, and the attractiveness and influence are gradually weakening, and the new gains to sports brands may be limited.

Nelson's ratings data show that the average G1 viewership of the finals broadcast by ABC TV this year was only 8.91 million, with a rating of 4.7, setting a new low for the NBA playoffs this season, setting a record for the first NBA Finals since Nelson had a complete record in 1988 (except for the 2020 and 2021 Bubble Park Games affected by the epidemic).

In contrast, the gold medal match of the North American Professional Hockey League (NHL) this season, Canada's average viewership reached 9.3 million when it played against the United States, surpassing the first NBA Finals, setting a record high in the event.

According to SportsMediaWatch, the G2 viewership of this season's finals was only 8.76 million, and the G2 ratings were lower than G1 for the first time since 2007, setting a record for the lowest ratings since the 2020 park finals. This undoubtedly shows the challenges facing the NBA and even basketball in attracting pan-sports audiences.

On the morning of June 12, the Thunder led by Alexander lost to the Pacers and lost the NBA Finals G3 with a score of 107:116, and the series score reached 1:2. Teams and brands that temporarily lose the initiative in winning the championship will calmly deal with the new round of challenges in their careers.