China's Sundog eyes revolution
From CNN Beijing Correspondent Stan Grant
 |  Kids play basketball in front of a billboard of national hero Yao Ming. |
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 Former Chinese basketball star Ma Jian paved the way for some of China's most successful athletes.
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BEIJING, China (CNN) -- Yao Ming has a lot to be proud of.
The Shanghai-born star of the U.S. National Basketball Association has sparked his own cultural revolution.
More and more Chinese kids are taking to the court and wearing the fashions of the hip-hop basketball generation.
Riding the trend is a young fashion label Sundog, which is aimed directly at the wealthy kids of the new China. It even comes complete with its own factory basketball team.
Nancy Dai is the marketing brains behind Sundog. After building a career in China's textile industry, she hopes her experience can help her win back Chinese youth to a Chinese brand.
"We're just a newborn baby. We want to be not only a creative brand, but to teach the young people a new way of living -- to know yourself, be sporty, be energetic," she told CNN.
Sundog's parent company, Telegoal, has surfed the outsourcing boom, making product for big name labels such as Levi's and Adidas.
The issue remains a sensitive one between China and the United States amid accusations that cheap Chinese labor is stealing American jobs.
And while she would not be drawn on the matter, Dai says she has Western brands firmly in her sights.
"Nike and Adidas mainly is sportswear, and Levi's is leisure wear, and we would like to provide more of a combination -- a wide range of clothes from sportswear, hip-hop wear or basic wear. Really a line with T-shirts, jeans, casual wear everything," she said.
But Sundog is trying to change not only what China wears, but also the nation's whole work culture.
The label is part of a revolution in Chinese factory life which would see old-style sweatshops replaced with work environments more like a college campus.
The workers come from China's poor provinces, part of an army of migrants flocking to the rich southern region of Guangdong. They are paid well, about 1500 yuan ($200) a month. Senior staff get twice that.
Dai said Sundog has opened 12 stores so far and plans to open 80 more across China this year.
