Li Ning is the face of 'guochao' — the national-pride streetwear wave that made Chinese consumers choose a homegrown label over Nike and Adidas.

Li Ning turned a 2018 New York Fashion Week runway moment into the founding myth of 'guochao' — Chinese youth wearing homegrown labels as national pride. But the movement that made it a streetwear icon has cooled into a slow-growth grind.