Germany-based sporting goods company adidas AG is not experiencing any slowdown in the Chinese mainland market, German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) quoted its Chief Executive Herbert Hainer as saying upon his return from a trip to the country.

Global stock markets plunged earlier this week as a slump in Shanghai shares sparked worries over China's economic health and the potential effects on companies that have come to rely on the country as a major export market.

Hainer, however, told FAZ that his company is proving resilient in the face of the economic downturn.

"We are not feeling any crisis in China," the newspaper quoted him as saying in an article published on Thursday.

Hainer said that shoppers in China are more likely to hold off buying big-ticket items such as cars than consumer goods that cost only the equivalent of $100.

"Sporting goods will remain in fashion [in China] and are in strong demand," Hainer said, "not least because the adidas brand is a status symbol."

The company's sport-inspired fashion is popular in the Chinese market.

However, it is at a disadvantage to Nike because soccer - the sport in which it has its roots - is far less popular than basketball, which its larger rival dominates.