By Lu Xinyan

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America approaching, manufacturers in Ningbo are already seeing a surge in orders for football-themed drinkware months ahead of the tournament.

At Ningbo Aikewei Technology Co., Ltd., the showroom shelves are lined with everything from ceramic mugs and plastic bottles to stainless steel vacuum flasks.

"From late October last year to around April this year, exports of World Cup-themed drinkware reached nearly 180,000 units," said Qiu Chunmiao, the company's export manager. Most orders were shipped to the United States and Mexico. The company currently offers seven themed designs, including ceramic mugs and collapsible football-shaped silicone bottles.

While the products themselves may appear straightforward, Qiu said the biggest challenge lies not in manufacturing, but in achieving precise color consistency.

International clients typically provide Pantone color codes rather than physical samples, requiring the company to match colors exactly across different materials such as plastic, ceramics and stainless steel.

Whether reproducing the red-and-blue stripes of a football jersey or the details of a club crest, even slight color differences are considered unacceptable.

Qiu recalled that the company went through five rounds of prototyping to accurately reproduce one football club's signature color, repeatedly adjusting the ratio of pearlescent powder and color pigments used in spray coating. Each adjustment affected gloss, adhesion and the way the color appeared under different lighting conditions.

Founded in 2019, Aikewei has expanded rapidly in the sports merchandise market. Much of the company's success can be attributed to its intense attention to detail.

The company now supplies vacuum flasks, ceramic mugs, luggage tags and electronic accessories to European football clubs and North American sports agencies. According to Qiu, individual orders regularly exceed 10,000 units, helping push the company's annual order value beyond $18 million.