Anta, the global sports brand, is putting its best foot forward in the Philippines.

The China-based athletic wear manufacturer has opened at Robinsons Place Manila and launched its latest signature shoes—the KT7, designed for the American National Basketball Association's Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, winner of several championship titles.

The Robinsons Place store is the first G10 Anta Concept Store in the country but the seventh shop exclusively for the brand.

It may seem a little too soon to be expanding with COVID-19 still posing a real threat to Filipinos' health and life, but John Paul Paglinawan, general manager of Avid Sports Philippines Inc., is feeling upbeat and is certain this is the right time to raise the profile of their brand.

He points out that the pandemic—and the change in lifestyle it has inspired—has actually expanded the market for sportswear. After being cooped up for over a year with the series of quarantines and lockdowns imposed by the government, people are eager to pursue a more active lifestyle, particularly spend more time outdoors.

Restrictions on public transport have also encouraged people to do more walking to travel short distance.

Up and running

With its shoes and apparel lines for running and training, Paglinawan says Anta has the opportunity to be part of the current lifestyle and generate more buzz for the brand, which has actually been in the Philippines for about a decade.

But basketball shoes and outfits, he adds, anchor the brand, hence, the spotlight on the personalized Thompson shoes that are now on their seventh iteration with the KT7 model, which boasts of the design concept "above the waters" and retails for almost P8,000.

Paglinawan stresses that most Anta merchandise are competitive in prices with other leading sports brands. He adds that the brand has the advantage of being "vertically integrated." While other labels spread the job of designing, manufacturing and distribution to different groups and even different places, Anta has everything done in one place.

Although Anta has online presence in both Shopee and Lazada, Paglinawan says they are opening more stores because they expect customers, as the country continues to open up, to still want the experience of browsing a physical display of merchandise and trying on right then and there the items they plan to buy.

Gaining foothold

After being slowed by the pandemic, Anta plans to open two more outlets this 2022.

The Robinsons Place store, the second to be opened in 2021, is located on the second floor at the Padre Faura wing.

"It looks like a gym with an open layout and is designed to offer a relaxed, cozy ambience," Paglinawan says.

The opening late last year was attended by two of Anta's local brand ambassadors, Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) players Anton Asistio of Rain or Shine and Andre Paras of Blackwater Bossing. Also present was Paras' father Benjie, a multiawarded PBA veteran.

Both Asistio and Paras express their admiration for Thompson, a 10-year veteran who is already considered one of the greatest shooters in NBA history.

"Anta Culture has always been about spreading the soul and the spirit of modern sports to the world," says Paglinawan. —contributed INQ