John McPheters, Stadium Goods' co-founder and CEO, at a storehouse of KAWS X Air Jordan 4 sneakers. This New York City-based sneaker startup launched a flagship store on Tmall Global in 2016. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Ma's promise

It's a move by Alibaba chairman and founder Jack Ma to fulfill a promise he made to the US President-elect Donald Trump: Get 1 million small and medium-sized US businesses enrolled on his Alibaba online platforms to sell their products to China's growing middle class and create 1 million jobs in the US.

With 12 retail stores in the US and about 150 employees, 100% Pure is a $20-million wholesale business that sells about 600 different products worldwide.

Kostick said the next target market is China, where the company has a subsidiary in the city of Tianjin, about a one-hour drive from Beijing. He has hired a Chinese general manager to lead a 10-member team to launch sales through Tmall.

"We will ship from Portland (Oregon)," said Kostick, adding that the company initially will only offer top-selling products to Chinese consumers.

To continue to use Tmall's marketing channels and to take advantage of sale opportunities like 11.11 Singles Day shopping, 100% Pure will be competing against local and international competitors, but Kostick said his company will succeed. "We did our solid market research, and noticed that China is surpassing Japan to become the second-largest spender in the cosmetics and beauty products sector," he said.

Stadium Goods, a retailer and marketplace in New York City founded in 2015, specializes in collectible sneakers and also has connected with Alibaba.

It started when a Chinese shopper walked into its Manhattan bricks-and-mortar store and paid $10,000 in cash for about 50 pairs of Nike Air Jordans to resell to basketball enthusiasts in China.

That purchase, together with several similar transactions made by visiting Chinese shoppers, gave co-founders John McPheters and Jed Stiller of Stadium Goods a clue as to just how strong the Chinese market might be.