LAST month, I was in Xiamen, China and had the opportunity to visit the headquarters of Peak Sports.

And believe me, what I learned, and what I saw was pretty impressive for an original Chinese brand dealing with sports shoes, apparrel, and accessories, and competing with the other bigger and more established Western brands.

To think it was just 35 years ago when this company started and look at it now, manufacturing 25 million pairs of shoes for local consumption and export to more than a hundred countries and five continents, with 30,000 employees scattered across three plants, and a 300-strong design team composed of people from different nationalities.

They have also penetrated even the NBA way back with Tony Parker, Jason Kidd, and Dwight Howard as the original endorsers to present times with Andrew Wiggins.

In last year’s FIBA World Cup, Peak Sports had 3 teams under their wing, one of them, eventual champion Germany , anchored on their working relationships with different National Olympic Committees(NOC’s) all over the world, and that includes the Philippines where Peak Sports Philippines started operating 10 years ago.

It was Peak Sports Philippines owner Michael Cheunglay who initiated and arranged our visit to the parent company , we were with the Fil-Chinese Amateur Athletic Federation (FCAAF) delegation when we made the visit.

I was with Philippine Sports Commission’s Commissioner Fritz Gaston as he was exploring possibilities for a sports exchange program where our athletes can attend training camps in Xiamen.

According to Michael, the first five years of the company’s operations were a bit of a struggle but in the last 5 years , business started picking up as local basketball players started embracing the brand.

Following the parent company’s lead, the local company also got PBA players to endorse the brand with Terrence Romeo as pioneer endorser, currently, Peak Sports Philippines counts on Robert Bolick, Calvin Abueva, Jio Jalalon, Juammi Tiongson, and retired Arwind Santos to promote the brand.

Even in women’s volleyball, Peak Sports Philippines has made inroads with the very popular Sisi Rondina, Desiree Cheng, and Jolina de la Cruz as initial endorsers.

Just last Friday, at the send -off party hosted by the Philippine Olympic Committee(POC) for all Paris-bound Filipino athletes, both for the regular summer Olympics and the Paralympics athletes, Peak Sports Philippines made its presence felt as Michael together with Batchie Magat, turned over training uniforms to our athletes, coaches, and officials, just in time for their departure to Paris.

The uniform design is distinctively Filipino as Michael has asked the company’s design team abroad to integrate Philippine colors and sights into the design, fact is, the company produces shoes that are just for the Filipino market with the local endorsers, who have their own shoe designs, giving suggestions.

Michael shared that the company’s direction is to expand its basketball base, barangay basketball as the specific target market, at the same time develop more its volleyball line together with running shoes.

No head on competition with the bigger brands, he says, believing that his brand has already been accepted as a quality brand at a lower price.

I guess, if you can pardon the intended pun, Peak Sports Philippines is peaking and our local athletes can only benefit from this.

Allow me to digress, I am extending ny sincerest condolences to a few people.

Sad news indeed that Allan Caidic’s beloved wife Millot has passed away recently, followed by the death of early PBA players Yoyong Martirez and Boy Clarino, whom I personally saw in action in the 70s.

Yoyong was our guest a few months back in OKS, a radio show I co-host with Teddy Perena and from his bubbly self, I could never imagine that it would be the last time I would see him.

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