Feiyue

Feiyue (飞跃)
Industry Footwear
Founded Shanghai, China, 1920s
Headquarters Shanghai, China
Paris, France
Products Shoes
Website Chinese Feiyue
French Feiyue
A pair of the original FeiYue Shoes.
A pair of the original Feiyue Shoes.

Feiyue is a brand of Chinese sneaker produced in Shanghai since the 1920s. Since 2006, the Feiyue brand is also owned by a French company operating separately from the original Chinese company, Double Coin Holdings.[1][2]

Feiyue shoes currently enjoy cult status as both a fashion item and as a shoe for martial arts. Feiyue shoes returned to the spotlight after actor Orlando Bloom was spotted wearing the shoes, causing a resurgence in interest for the brand. The shoes were also worn by a number of performers during the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, showing that they are still in common use in China. They are also popular worldwide amongst practitioners of parkour for their light weight, thin sole, and flexibility.[3]

Name

Feiyue (simplified Chinese: 飞跃; traditional Chinese: 飛躍; pinyin: fēi yuè) translates "to leap" or "to fly over." The translation and slogan for the French Based Footwear Brand is "Flying Forward'

History of Feiyue

Feiyue originated in Shanghai in the 1920s, manufactured by a company called Da Fu (Chinese: 大孚; pinyin: dà fú). They gained popularity during the '30s for their robustness, flexibility and comfort which were considered essential requirements for martial arts and various forms of athletics. The shoes are a staple for almost all wushu practitioners and athletes in China with the shoes even being used by numerous shaolin monks and Kung Fu masters. Feiyue continued to be popular for numerous decades, with hundreds of thousands of shoes sold by the original company over the course of its lifetime, continuing to the present day. The shoes are a popular export with numerous foreign martial arts clubs and schools importing them as the standard shoes for their students. With the opening up of China and the associated cultural and economic shifts, the sneaker began to lose prominence in China.

In 2005, Patrice Bastian, an entrepreneur living in Shanghai, decided to team up with a group of artists to recreate the brand name with the stated intention of improving the image and appearance of Feiyue. Nicolas Seguy and Clement Fauth were part of his team to redesign Feiyue for the contemporary Western consumer. In February 2006, they launched the first French-designed Feiyue Shoes collection.

In 2014 Florida based BBC International announces the acquisition of the French company Feiyue Shoes.[4]

Intellectual Property Rights Dispute

A dispute exists surrounding the trademark and intellectual property rights to Feiyue between the French-owned company, Feiyue International, LLC, and Shanghai Da Fu Rubber Co, the company who originally manufactured the shoe. Liu Qinglong, manager of Shanghai Da Fu Rubber Co, said of the situation in 2011, "The French Feiyue brand will never enter the Chinese market… If they come to China, we will consider them on the grounds of intellectual property rights infringement."[5]

Speaking to the South China Morning Post in 2017, Liu Qinglong said: "No one in China knew about commodity intellectual property rights at the time and it wasn’t until 2007-08 that we found out the French had registered the trademark." Patrice Bastian, co-founder and creative director of Feiyue International, LLC, commented: "It’s actually a legal issue and there are many things that we cannot control. The main issue is that many people are claiming the right to this brand in China. So it’s very difficult to work with one owner."

According to Feiyue’s website, Feiyue International, LLC, retains all rights regarding their trademarks, trade names, brand names  trade dress. These marks, names or trade dress, and all associated logos are registered and/or common law trademarks of Feiyue are protected by and international laws and treaties.[6]

Distinctions between the Chinese and French versions

The original Chinese versions of the Feiyue shoes and the re-designed French versions have a number of differences. The differences include:

1. Sole of the Shoe
The sole of the original Chinese Feiyue shoe contains reduced padding on the bottom of the shoe, which is considered desirable for running and jumping. The sole of the French version has thicker padding on the bottom and is designed for more general-purpose use. Also, the seal at the center of the sole is a green triangle on the Chinese Feiyue, while the marking is a red circle on the French version.

2. Canvas Material of the Shoe
The canvas material of Chinese Feiyue shoe is thin, resulting in a large range of ankle flexibility. The martial arts application requires a wide range of foot motion. The canvas material of the French version is much thicker and allows for less flexibility.

3. Color of the Shoe
The original Chinese Feiyues originally came in only two colors, black and white with HI and LO version of each. The shoes were previously only available in a limited range of styles—simple stripes with some different colors. Now Feiyue China has expanded to a wider range of colors and styles.

Chinese Feiyue shoes being worn by performers during the 2008 Olympic Games in China.
Feiyue shoes being worn by performers during the 2008 Olympic Games in China.

The shoes can also be seen in the music video for Foster the People's "Pumped Up Kicks."

Chronology

In the 1920s, a cloth shoe was manufactured in Shanghai, which was to later evolve into Feiyue years later.

In 1958, Da Fu Rubber Company (大孚橡胶厂) designed and produced a kind of civil Jiefang shoe (解放鞋) known as "FEIYUE". These were a modification of the cloth shoes used by the Shaolin monks.

In 1959, the modified cloth-bound rubber shoes "FEIYUE Shoes" officially entered the market.

In 1963, using FEIYUE and double arrow-labeled chevron with of "FEIYUE track and field", "FEIYUE" became the best-selling shoes in China with an output of 1,616,000 pairs, which is also prevailing in the market today.

In 1963, 1977, and 1985, the classic rubber shoes successively received Shanghai-level and the national-level awards of footwear in China. Famous indoor football coach Xu Genbao and player Qi Hong participated in contests wearing "FEIYUE track and field" shoes.

In the 1980s, "FEIYUE" sports shoes was awarded as "Shanghai's top brand-name products" several times.

In 2005, a French company started producing its own version of Feiyue.

In 2009, the Da Fu Rubber Company reorganized and sold the rights to Feiyue to the Shuang Qian Group Co. Ltd which then leased manufacturing back to Da Fu, and another manufacturer Top One (大博文), both traditional producers of Feiyue shoes.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-luxury/article/2073436/shoes-other-foot-chinese-company-calls-french-sneaker-firm
  2. ↑ http://wap.chinadaily.com.cn/2016-06/20/content_25766628.htm
  3. ↑ Deola Adebiyi (June 2013). "Kick Starters". Vertical Floor Magazine. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  4. ↑ Clack, Erin E. (2014-08-04). "BBC Inks Deal for Sneaker Brand". Footwear News. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
  5. ↑ Times, Global. "Rebooting the brand - Global Times". www.globaltimes.cn. Retrieved 2018-08-31.
  6. ↑ "Feiyue. Conditions of Use". feiyue-shoes.com. Retrieved 2018-08-31.
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