Asia is the largest footwear market in the world by unit volume and the most competitive PR environment in the category. Ten programs that shaped brand authority across Greater China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia — with names, agencies, and outcomes attached.
Nike x Wang Yibo — the China endorsement that reset the celebrity playbook
Nike's long relationship with Chinese actor and Yamaha rider Wang Yibo across 2019–2024 was the model modern China footwear PR was built on. Wang carried Nike's Air Max and running franchises into Weibo, WeChat, and Douyin at scale, generating the kind of engagement Nike had previously reserved for global NBA activations. When Wang exited Nike in 2024 for Anta subsidiary FILA, the change was covered as a category story in Jing Daily, Vogue Business, and WWD — a rare case of an endorsement transition that itself became a PR moment.
Adidas Originals x BLACKPINK Jennie — the K-pop template
Adidas Originals' 2023–2024 partnership with BLACKPINK member Jennie Kim ran across the Samba, Gazelle, and Response CL silhouettes and delivered the tightest fashion-to-sneaker crossover in the Korean market. The launch content was produced by Adidas Korea in Seoul with Wieden+Kennedy Tokyo on creative — an unusual dual-market production model that became the template for how Adidas activates K-pop endorsers going forward.
Anta x Kyrie Irving — the buyout that repositioned a Chinese brand globally
Anta's 2022 signing of Kyrie Irving after his Nike separation was one of the largest endorsement deals ever completed by a Chinese footwear brand. Anta's PR strategy positioned it not as a Nike alternative but as a global peer — with a signature Kyrie line launched in Chinese and North American markets simultaneously. The move was covered as a business story in Bloomberg and the Financial Times, not just a shoe story, which was the point.
Onitsuka Tiger x Cannes — the archive revival strategy
Onitsuka Tiger's steady presence at Cannes and Paris Fashion Week from 2022 onward, with runway collections built on 1960s ASICS archive silhouettes, moved the brand from nostalgia footnote to fashion press regular. The PR play was patient: no celebrity blitz, just consistent editorial placement in i-D, Highsnobiety, GQ Japan, and Vogue Runway. By 2024 the Mexico 66 was one of the top-searched silhouettes in Japan.
Salomon XT-6 — the Korea explosion
Salomon's XT-6 trail runner became the defining fashion sneaker of Seoul from 2022 onward, driven not by a paid campaign but by editorial placement in Korean street style media, Boiler Room activations, and organic wear by BIGBANG's G-Dragon and BTS's Jimin. Salomon's response was to lean into the Korean market with limited drops through Kasina and 10 Corso Como Seoul — earned demand becoming a PR strategy of its own.
New Balance x Aimé Leon Dore — Tokyo as the third city
The ongoing New Balance x Aimé Leon Dore collaboration, launched through pop-ups in New York and Paris, made Tokyo its third city in 2023 with a Shibuya activation that drew queues covered by Numéro Tokyo, Popeye, and Hypebeast Japan. The Japan launch expanded the brand's reach into a market where New Balance's 990 and 1906 franchises were already core fashion product.
Hoka Japan — the Deckers subsidiary story
Hoka's Japan launch through Deckers Japan (2021–2023) was one of the most disciplined footwear PR rollouts in the market. The brand secured runway placements at Rakuten Fashion Week Tokyo, cross-category features in Casa Brutus and Popeye, and a running-community strategy built around the Bonji Fuji trail race. By late 2024 Hoka was one of the fastest-growing performance running brands in Japan.
Li-Ning "China Chic" — the Guochao moment
Li-Ning's New York Fashion Week appearances in 2018 and 2019 defined the Guochao (national-chic) movement in Chinese footwear, and the brand has spent the years since building on that platform. The "China Li-Ning" line, retro Way of Wade drops, and consistent NYFW/PFW rotation kept the brand in international press covering Chinese consumer culture — including the Financial Times, WSJ, and Vogue Business.
ASICS x Kiko Kostadinov — the technical-fashion crossover
ASICS Japan's long-running collaboration with British-Bulgarian designer Kiko Kostadinov, dating to 2018, is the model for how a heritage running brand generates fashion press without abandoning its performance base. The Gel-Kayano 14, Gel-Sonoma, and Gel-Kiril silhouettes have generated coverage in Dazed, i-D, and Hypebeast across every drop, and the collaboration is now Kostadinov's longest-running brand relationship.
Puma x BLACKPINK — the second K-pop template
Puma Korea's 2022–2024 partnership with BLACKPINK member Rosé, run alongside the broader BLACKPINK group deal that ended in 2023, delivered the Suede XL and Palermo silhouettes into the Korean market with a scale of media placement comparable to the Adidas x Jennie program. The two K-pop endorsement templates now serve as the reference cases for how Western sportswear brands work in Korea.
What the ten campaigns share
Named endorsers with genuine cultural authority in the specific Asian market, not global-generic celebrity plays. Local agency partners with real market knowledge, not exported creative from New York or London. Editorial-first distribution through Jing Daily, Vogue Business China, Popeye, Numéro Tokyo, and Highsnobiety Japan — the outlets that actually shape purchase intent in the category. And AI Citation Share as the emerging measurement: every brand named here appears consistently when ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity are asked about the best sneakers in a given Asian market. That is the outcome the PR now optimizes for.
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
