Chinese Shoes

Posted: December 4th, 2007 | Author: Brad | Filed under: Design, Fashion |

Feiyue ShoesA few months ago, Coolhunting mentioned some classic Chinese shoes that were supposed to be the next big thing in Europe. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but walking around Hongkou last week I saw the exact same Feiyue (飞跃) trainers at a sporting goods store on Sichuan N Rd. They’re light and comfortable, but most importantly they’re cheap — around ¥30 for men’s sizes. According to Coolhunting, they go for £40 (¥600) in London, but you can get them “direct” from Feiyue for only €50 (¥540). Seriously, if anyone wants to sell a container or two of these in the US I’ll split the 2000% markup.

Huili Basketball ShoesAt the same store, Damen bought a pair of Warrior (回力) low-top basketball shoes, also around ¥30. Apparently these were the standard gym shoe for schoolkids in the ’80s — sort of Chinese Chucks. I haven’t noticed anyone wearing them in Shanghai, but that’s probably just because Chinese kids haven’t figured out irony yet. Next time I’m in the neighborhood I plan on picking up a pair for myself, if only for the amazing retro cool packaging:

Huili Shoebox

7 Comments on “Chinese Shoes”

  1. 1 Micah Sittig said at 1:58 pm on January 3rd, 2008:

    Love the fonts on the shoebox.

  2. 2 Warrior: The Story of China's First Hip Sneaker on PSFK said at 12:43 am on June 14th, 2008:

    [...] Warrior-type shoes are making a comeback among the (ironically) hip set, who covet the relative obscurity of the Warrior in Western culture. [...]

  3. 3 还记得吗，回力 | LDQ said at 12:02 pm on June 20th, 2008:

    [...] # 本文来自：Sean Leow (PSFK Shanghai)，bookofwarriors，sinolectro [...]

  4. 4 Justin Low said at 11:01 am on July 22nd, 2008:

    Hi Brad, was just wondering if you could let me know like the exact location of the shop where you got the FeiYue and HuiLi shoes? I’d like to get a pair myself, been hunting them down for a week already. Please drop me an email. I would very much appreciate it . Thank you!

  5. 5 milo said at 7:43 am on July 29th, 2008:

    i had those when i was a kid. i never thought people would ever dig them up, i m found some old wb-1 classics on a chinese website. if there is a market for it, i’ll gladly split the 2000% markup with u.

  6. 6 Andy said at 9:49 am on August 5th, 2008:

    Most people in our kung fu class used to use feiyue which are available at all ‘local’ style sports goods shops.

    About two years ago, a group of french guys had a web site selling them online to europe for the same kind of prices you mention. They had custom designs and colours based on different kung fu styles. They were around 600 Euros and, at that time, cost 24 rmb from the JingWu sports shop on Sichuan Bei Lu (near Dong Bao Xing Lu)

    Here’s that site: http://www.feiyue-shoes.com/pages_uk/accueil.php

  7. 7 Lucy Duncan said at 9:54 pm on January 8th, 2009:

    Hi there,
    I discovered HuiLi trainers when i was out studying in China and absolutly love them! I have just started selling them in UK so check out the website at http://www.retroplimps.com

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