LI-NING KIDS refers to the children’s sportswear business and product system under Li-Ning Company Limited, a major Chinese sports brand. Historically, LI-NING KIDS served as the primary designation for the company’s youth offerings, targeting children and adolescents aged approximately 2–14 1. However, following a strategic reorganization between 2016 and 2017, the core children’s business was rebranded as LI-NING YOUNG. In the current corporate structure, “KIDS” functions specifically as a sub-category denoting products for children aged 3–6, while “YOUNG” covers the 7–12 age demographic. Consequently, LI-NING KIDS is best understood today as the foundational era of Li-Ning’s youth division rather than a fully independent standalone brand.

To understand the positioning of LI-NING KIDS, it is necessary to examine its parent entity. Li-Ning Company Limited was established in 1990 by Li Ning, a renowned gymnast who won three gold, two silver, and one bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics 1. The company was founded with the objective of creating a professional sports equipment brand for Chinese athletes and consumers. By 1990, Li-Ning apparel was already involved in the 11th Asian Games, and in 1992, it became the designated award ceremony wear for the Chinese delegation at the Barcelona Olympics 1. This heritage established a core philosophy for the subsequent children’s business: integrating professional sports performance with child development and daily wear, rather than producing generic children’s clothing.

Early Development

Li-Ning entered the youth market early in its corporate history. Documentation from 2010 explicitly identified the “LI-NING Kids’ Collection” as a key segment for exploration, targeting active children and teenagers aged 2–14 1. During this period, LI-NING KIDS operated as an extension of the main brand, adapting adult sports technologies, sizing, and designs for younger users while maintaining the parent brand’s athletic identity.

Transition to LI-NING YOUNG

The most significant shift in the brand’s history occurred in the late 2010s. In the second half of 2016, Li-Ning initiated a comprehensive restructuring of its children’s wear division. This culminated in June 2017 with the official launch and rebranding of LI-NING YOUNG 1. This transition marked a strategic pivot from a general children’s casual wear line to a specialized professional children’s sportswear brand. Therefore, LI-NING KIDS and LI-NING YOUNG should not be viewed as unrelated entities; rather, the latter represents the evolved and reorganized successor of the former.

As of 2026, Li-Ning’s official e-commerce platforms categorize children’s merchandise into two distinct segments based on age and developmental needs:

• KIDS: Targets children approximately 3–6 years old.
• YOUNG: Targets children approximately 7–12 years old.

This segmentation reflects a specialized approach to product development. For the KIDS (3–6) segment, offerings include sneakers, T-shirts, polo shirts, vests, hoodies, trousers, padded jackets, down jackets, socks, hats, and bags. The YOUNG (7–12) segment features a broader technical range, including running shoes, basketball shoes, training shoes, casual footwear, sandals, competition uniforms, outerwear, and accessories 1.

LI-NING KIDS and its successor LI-NING YOUNG operate across three primary dimensions:

Professional Sports Performance

The core focus remains on athletic functionality. Key categories include running, basketball, training, outdoor activities, and school sports. As the youth sports market has matured, Li-Ning has increasingly extended its professional R&D resources to children’s lines. Recent collections feature quick-dry and breathable fabrics designed for high-intensity training, continuing the brand’s signature design language adapted for younger users 234.

Daily Wear and Lifestyle

Beyond pure athletics, the brand provides extensive lifestyle apparel suitable for school and casual settings. This includes everyday essentials such as T-shirts, hoodies, trousers, and down jackets, covering a spectrum of “sports + campus + daily life” scenarios.

Sports Fashion

Influenced by the parent brand’s expansion into fashion during the late 2010s—including appearances at New York and Paris Fashion Weeks—the children’s line incorporates contemporary design elements and cultural motifs 1. Products often reflect a “Chinese-chic” aesthetic that aligns with broader trends in the parent brand’s portfolio 2.

Design Principles

Product development emphasizes child-specific ergonomics over simple size reduction. Key considerations include freedom of movement, ease of dressing, comfort, durability, and age-appropriate support. In 2025, the company reiterated its commitment to combining professional sports technology with child growth requirements, alongside the development of proprietary intellectual property (IP) 1.

Basketball serves as a cornerstone of the children’s business, leveraging Li-Ning’s extensive resources in professional basketball. The company maintains long-term partnerships with the Chinese Men’s Professional Basketball League and holds endorsement deals with athletes such as Dwyane Wade and CJ McCollum 1. These assets are integrated into the youth ecosystem through initiatives like:

• Chinese Primary School Basketball League
• Chinese Middle School Basketball League
• LI-NING TOP24 Basketball Elite Tournament
• Junior CBA National Challenge
• Li-Ning Sports Academy training camps (daily, summer, winter, and overseas)

This integration positions the brand not merely as an apparel manufacturer but as a participant in the broader youth sports lifestyle ecosystem 1.

LI-NING YOUNG has grown into a significant revenue stream for the group. As of December 31, 2025, the division operated 1,518 points of sale (POS) in China, representing a net increase of 50 locations compared to the end of 2024 1. This marks substantial expansion from 2018, when the brand had approximately 793 stores across 30 provinces.

For context regarding the group’s overall scale, Li-Ning reported total revenue of approximately RMB 29.598 billion for the full year 2025. Across all brands, including the core LI-NING label and LI-NING YOUNG, the company operated 7,609 POS terminals globally as of late 2025 1. Strategic priorities for 2025 included optimizing product mix, enhancing professional attributes, developing exclusive IPs, expanding outlet channels, improving store efficiency, and accelerating e-commerce deployment. Marketing efforts have focused on event cooperation, user storytelling, and IP collaborations to strengthen brand resonance among families and young athletes 1.

LI-NING KIDS is not an independent corporate entity. It operates under Li-Ning Company Limited’s “single brand, multi-category, multi-channel” strategy. The organizational hierarchy places the children’s business alongside professional sports (running, basketball, badminton, training), sports lifestyle, and the premium LI-NING 1990 line. Within this structure, LI-NING YOUNG encompasses both the KIDS and YOUNG sub-segments 1.

The children’s line utilizes the visual assets of the parent brand. The Li-Ning logo, which incorporates stylized elements resembling the Chinese character for “person” and gymnastic movements, is prominently featured on all youth products 1. The brand slogan, “Anything Is Possible,” serves as the guiding ethos for the children’s division, linking the parent company’s heritage to themes of growth, exploration, and athletic aspiration 1.

LI-NING YOUNG competes primarily in the Chinese children’s sportswear market against both international and domestic players, including Nike Kids, adidas Kids, FILA Kids, Anta Kids, 361° Kids, and Xtep Kids. Its competitive differentiation relies on its status as a leading domestic brand, access to professional adult sports technology, deep basketball resources, integration with national youth sports competitions, and the fusion of athletic performance with Chinese cultural design elements 1.

While no longer the primary trade name for the entire children’s division, LI-NING KIDS retains historical importance as the vehicle through which Li-Ning expanded from an adult-focused sports brand to a full-spectrum age-inclusive label. It laid the groundwork for the modern LI-NING YOUNG system, establishing the initial distribution networks and product frameworks that were later professionalized and scaled. For researchers and industry analysts, accurate terminology distinguishes between LI-NING KIDS as the legacy/early-era designation and LI-NING YOUNG as the current operational brand system, with “KIDS” now serving strictly as an age-segment descriptor within that system 1.

1. Li-Ning – Wikipedia
2. Li-ning kids’ table tennis outfit set review | 2025 new arrival: quick-dry and breathable, professional training apparel loved by boys and girls! – Taobao
3. Li-ning kids’ table tennis outfit set review | 2025 new arrival: quick-dry and breathable, professional training apparel loved by boys and girls! – Taobao
4. Li-ning kids’ table tennis outfit set review | 2025 new arrival: quick-dry and breathable, professional training apparel loved by boys and girls! – Taobao