New Balance, a leading US-based athletic shoe brand that has been suffering from severe counterfeiting in China for more than a decade, yesterday announced the re-establishment of its brand in the world's most populous country.

"We will re-launch our China strategy and hopefully by the 2008 Olympic Games we will be the second largest (athletic footwear) brand," said Jim Davis, chairman and chief executive officer of New Balance, currently the No 2 athletic shoe brand in the United States.

The top brand in China at that time will still be Nike.

The company revealed it will open 70 new retail outlets in Beijing and Shanghai by the end of next year.

The chairman would not predict New Balance's sales volume in China for the coming years but said: "By 2008, China can be the second or third largest market outside the United States."

"We think it's the right time to re-launch our brand here, our team is ready," Davis said.

New Balance initially entered China about 12 years ago by co-operating with a Guangdong-based domestic shoe manufacturer.

But "something unhappy happened" and the business in China halted, said Vanessa Wong, general manager of the company's local operations, who did not elaborate.

Industrial insiders said that counterfeiting in that part of the country stalled the business for the company.

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