snaps | warrior sneakers in ho chi minh ::
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009:: taken in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; a pedicab driver wearing Warrior (回力) sneakers. // AjS
Posts Tagged ‘chinese retro sneakers’
snaps | warrior tennies ::
Sunday, April 19th, 2009:: Over the weekend I spotted this pair of classic Warrior (回力) tennies while walking up the stairs of my friend’s house (who lives in this old neighborhood). The shoes were his neighbors. Simple, comfortable, classic. // AjS
shulong sneakers ::
Friday, April 17th, 2009
:: I recently came across yet another brand of revived retro Chinese sneakers called Shulong (舒龙). Like Feiyue, Shulong has apparently also been bought by a French company / entrepreneur and revamped for international consumers, being sold mainly in France and other select locations in Europe.
Despite what appears to be Shulong advertising itself as being around in China since the 30’s (and originally a favorite among local monks), I’ve been unable to find any “pre-hipsterfication” information about the brand. Does anyone know anything more?
At any rate, they are pretty cool and definitely embody a classic Chinese sneaker charm. See below for photos of Shulong’s latest collection. According to Shulong’s Web site, the shoes are available for sale in China (Beijing & Shanghai). For more 56minus1 posts on retro Chinese sneakers, link here, here, here, and here. // AjS
snaps | wenyi qingnian @ chengdu ::
Monday, April 13th, 2009:: wenyi qingnian (文艺青年) kids in Chengdu hanging out and hawking their wares. // AjS
things well done | shoebox ::
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009:: I’m a fan of Chinese retro and “revolutionary” footwear. This past weekend I picked up another pair of Shanghai-made Warrior / Huili (回力) trainers. The shoes are great, of course, but check out the packaging. This is a beautiful, timeless shoebox. The font and copy are nearly perfect, especially the line: 穿回力鞋, 走成功路, which In English is something like “Wear Huili Shoes, Walk the Road of Success.” It’s so much better in Chinese, perhaps that’s why Huili didn’t bother translating it. Bravo, well done. // AjS
feiyue shanzhai’d by double star ::
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009:: this kinda baffles me. Double Star (双星), a well-known, longstanding, and hitherto legit Chinese sneaker brand, appears to be shanzhai’ing its competition. I took this picture at an official Double Star store in Chengdu over the weekend. Also worth noting, while walking by a local soccer pitch, I saw kids in Chengdu wearing many (MANY) different kinds of shanzhai’ed Feiyue – at least a dozen unique varieties. What is going on? This is great! // AjS
Interestingly, when I tried to go to Double Star’s official Web site (www.doublestar.com.cn), Firefox and Google presented me with the below friendly messages. Honestly, can a brand get any dodgier?
snaps | shanzhai’d k’roos? ::
Monday, March 16th, 2009:: this is a follow up to a few previous posts I’ve done on Chinese brand sneakers (here, here, and here). On my way back from (one of my many trips to) the water cooler today, I spotted the office Ayi (custodial staff), Zhang Ayi, sporting these rad trainers. Check them out below. Maybe a hybrid shanzhai’d effort of the and (so cool if so) ? Oh the memories, K’roos’ zip-pocket sneaker design dominate my youth. Two words: milk money. But, who would shanzhai Mizuno? Maybe. Unlikely. At any rate, Zhang Ayi informed me that she purchased these for RMB 20 at a shop in Shanghai on Jiangning Rd. // AjS
shanzhai’d feiyue ::
Friday, March 6th, 2009:: today at a small shop on Dagu Lu (right next to the Alley #489 gate) in Shanghai I came across a pair of shanzhai’d Feiyue (飞跃) sneakers called “Feiyin.” (RMB 18) Compare the photos below with the real thing.
At the same shop I also found some Rongguang Brand (荣光牌) sneakers, which I had never heard of before and still cant find any info on. I don‘t know who is shanzhai’ing who, but these look almost identical to The People’s Shoes (人民牌) that I recently introduced here. Interestingly, a pair of Rongguang Brand is shown on the “The People’s Shoes” web site (see the fourth picture). [UPDATE: Anton Brandt from The People's Shoes has informed me that they in fact work together with Rongguang Brand to produce their shoes.] For RMB 20, you too can be the proud owner of a pair of Rongguang Brand. (RMB 20)
This shop also had Chinese electrical workers’ boots. I picked up a pair for RMB 18. // AjS
remembering warrior ::
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009:: related to a previous post about retro Chinese sneakers, below are two pairs of limited edition Warriors and a collection of limited edition dolls / action figures donning a pair of Warriors designed as part of AMG Labs’ PROJECT RE:BORN (回忆回力), a “brand revitalization exercise” with the classic Chinese sneaker brand Warrior (回力, Huili). // AjS
trends | chinese retro sneaker evolution ::
Thursday, February 26th, 2009:: …first came the original, Huili / Warrior (回力), priced between RMB 30 – 65…
…then came the, also original, Feiyue (飞跃) sneaker, priced between RMB 30 – 65…
…now there is The People’s Shoes (人民牌), a modern, higher-quality and more comfortable, hybrid version of the above two, by Anton Brandt (who, by the way, is cool enough to donate a portion of the brand’s profits to The Starfish Project, a Cambodia-based humanitarian organization), priced at USD 42 (RMB 285)…
…similarly, there is also OSPOP. (One Small Point of Pride.)’s Skywolf sneaker line by Ben Walters, priced at USD 76 (RMB 520)…
…which is essentially an indie-hipster remix version of Tianlang’s (天狼, literally “Skywolf”) classic revolutionary-flavored Chinese military / migrant worker “liberation shoes” (解放鞋), and also the timeless Chinese electrical workers’ “boot,” priced between RMB 10 – 35…
…and of course, let us not forget about the recent return of traditional Chinese “cloth shoes” (布鞋) to the modern fashion scene, priced between RMB 10 – 30…
…and last but not least, my favorite, a shanzhai’d NIKE version of “liberation shoes,” by a young man who actually wears them during military training exercises, priceless. // AjS
