

A brand-new Chinese sportswear brand has received a great deal of attention following its launch earlier this week, with netizens noticing its striking resemblance to a certain popular American sportswear brand. See if you can figure out which one:



Yup. Pictures have gone viral of the company’s launch event, with executives speaking in front of a logo that looks like a very blatant rip-off of Under Armour’s trademark. Meanwhile the brand’s curious name, Uncle Martian, also happens to sound pretty similar. Here’s Under Armour’s logo, notice the subtle, but all important differences:



According to Shoes.Net, Uncle Martian’s parent company is Fujian-based Tingfei Long Sporting Goods, a 25-year-old sports shoe manufacturer that has specialized in manufacturing off-brand sneakers for years, but now appears poised for bigger and better things, riding on the wave of Under Armour’s growing success in China.



Tingfei Long executive Huang Canlong was frank with reporters, telling them he hoped that Uncle Martian would be able to capture part of the sports shoe market that has been taken over by foreign firms, such as Under Armour.



China is infamous for its disregard of international copyright laws — with copycat sphinxes, talent shows and luxury brands — but it’s hard to blame them when the strategy is often such a success. Last year, a company that began as a Segway copycat actually bought Segway, and then got financed by Xiaomi.

We aren’t saying that Uncle Martian will take over Under Armour someday, but stranger things have happened. Heck, it’s already got 100 followers on its Weibo account, launched earlier today.

[Images via Shoes.net]

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