Nike basketball shoes — Nike Hyperdunk 08 FTB — were found to be of lower quality than advertised. [Photo: CCTV]

Nike China has made an official apology for falsely advertising a product, and has promised to make a full refund and pay compensation to customers who bought the items to the value of three times the original purchase price.

The global sportswear giant's basketball shoes, Nike Hyperdunk 08 FTB, were exposed on CCTV's 3.15 quality investigation program on Wednesday as incorporating no cushion as promoted.

Nike China claims that they used the wrong advertisement for the shoes, which led to a misunderstanding among customers.

The company says it will strictly review the promotion procedures for its products and provide the correct information in future.

A pair of Nike Hyperdunk 08 FTB shoes sell for 1,499 yuan (USD 217) on the official Nike website, but a shoe dealer said the cost of such shoes barely reaches 300 yuan (USD 43.4).

Nike Hyperdunk 08 FTB are advertised as copies of those worn by basketball legend Kobe Bryant. [File photo: baidu.com]

He also mentioned that some domestic Nike stores directly purchase pirated shoes from copycat factories for only 200 yuan (USD 29) to 300 yuan and sell them at regular prices.

The sportswear market has been expanding enormously in recent years. Domestic brands like Lining, Xstep and Anta all reportedly saw increased profits of over 10% in 2016.

Greater demand generates more competition for both Chinese and foreign companies and costcutting is generally considered a strategy to cope with the situation, He Wenyi of Sports Value Research Institute of Peking University said.