Tiger Claw brand Feiyue

[GeneChing]

Maybe next shipment. Depends on how well these sell, but I'm anticipating them to do just fine.

[SimonM]

Curse my freakishly large feet!

[SimonM]

Shameless bump of one of Gene's fave products... even if they don't fit my freakishly large feet!

[GeneChing]

They were in by January 5th, but it took two weeks to sort out the inventory. I just got mine. Others got theirs already.

[GeneChing]

So sayeth TIME!

The Best of Asia 2010

It's impossible to capture Asia's diversity, but we try. Our annual guide to the region's best experiences for Mind, Body and Soul represents a mere fraction of what makes Asia special — and, every year, our correspondents realize just how much remains untold. That's how it should be. One of the best things about Asia is that we'll never get the better of it

Sneakers Pimped
By Gary Jones Thursday, May. 13, 2010

Originating from Shanghai in the 1920s, Feiyue sneakers have long been the durable, lightweight and (perhaps most significantly) cheap footwear of choice for sporty Chinese school kids, Shaolin martial artists and workers migrating to China's fast-moving cities. But in 2005, recognizing the brand's potential appeal to youthful hipsters perpetually prowling for the sneaker du jour, a small team of French entrepreneurs struck a deal with the manufacturer to roll out the brand to Europe and beyond. Could they have stumbled upon the Chinese Converse?

Quite possibly. Quality standards and materials have been improved and new designs created in collaboration with contemporary designers and graphic artists. The first Sino-European collection was launched in France in February 2006, with the shoes flying from Parisian boutique shelves (rather aptly, since Feiyue means "flying forward") for an impressive $65 a pair.

Since then, the revamped marque has been rolled out worldwide and — with the unwitting assistance of a paparazzi photograph of Pirates of the Caribbean actor Orlando Bloom sporting white canvas Feiyues — the brand has been gushed over by cool hunters and fashion editors from Kowloon to Knightsbridge, and even championed in French style bible Elle. But budding entrepreneurs (as well as Chinese children, wushu practitioners and construction laborers) will be pleased to note that the original mass-produced sneakers with their distinctive scarlet and royal-blue trim can still be found in down-and-dirty Shanghai hardware stores for as little as $5. On your next trip, take an empty suitcase.

[taai gihk yahn]

$65 for Feiyues?!?

looking out my window for locust swarms now...

nope, just 4 weirdos on horses coming down the street...

[GeneChing]

Look up at the top of this thread, to post #8 and our discussion of plimsolls.

Now you see what a great deal you get with Tiger Claw Feiyues!

[GeneChing]

* OCTOBER 1, 2010
Retro Gets a Retread
These Chinese old-style sneakers are all the rage
BY JASON CHOW

Long before Nike and Adidas came to China, there was Warrior and Feiyue. But today, even in a country obsessed with Western brands, the shoes made by the old Chinese companies—vintage-style footwear that was once associated with youth rallies, Shaolin monks and Olympic teams of the '70s—are back in vogue.

The main force behind the retro-sneaker resurgence is Feiyue, an old Chinese brand that began in Shanghai in the 1920s and was popular in its early days as the footwear of choice for martial arts experts and athletes. The Feiyue brand, which means "flying forward" in Chinese, was purchased in 2006 by a group of French entrepreneurs and recast as chic street wear by slightly altering the design and incorporating colors. Two years ago when Orlando Bloom was spotted on a park bench sporting a white version of the sneakers, the shoes hit the fashion zeitgeist.

A classic Shulong Shoe, a style inspired by the original Feiyue brand of vintage Chinese sneakers

Meanwhile, a rival Franco-Chinese company is trying to strike its own place in the trend. Inspired by the original Feiyue shoes, French entrepreneur Brice Genin has started his own line called Shulong. Based in Shanghai, Mr. Genin's shoes are similar in its simple construction but have been updated for modern styles with flashier colors and patterned fabrics. The shoes sell in China and Europe.

The third company in the retro-Chinese footrace: Warrior, a state-owned brand from Shanghai. The company, which began making shoes in the 1930s as a way to use up the excess rubber from its tire-making operation, has a cult following in and outside of China and recently opened a flagship store in its hometown.

To Chinese wearers, Mr. Genin thinks the retro-styled sneakers are more than just a fashion statement.

"China's changing so fast and there is no reference point for [consumers]," says Mr. Genin. "They have so many new Chinese brands with no history, and there are Western brands with histories that is hard for them to identify with. So, with these shoes, it's something that is familiar. And that's why we're popular here."

But like all industries in China, retro shoes are fraught with their own set of unique problems, especially for Feiyue. Though its French owners bought the brand four years ago, it doesn't own the rights to the name within China—that remains with a Chinese company that still makes similar shoes under the same name. And for some Chinese consumers, there's a world of difference between a pair of "real" Feiyue shoes made by the Chinese-owned factory and a pair made for the French-owned brand, even though the two appear to be identical.

Requests for an interview were made to the French brand, but the company chose not to comment, saying that it tries to keep away from media stories that link it to the Chinese market.

Still, Mr. Genin credits the French Feiyue for the recent resurgence in retro brands and says the trend is still kicking—in both China and in Western markets.

"Feiyue started it, but the whole market is just beginning in China. There's a whole generation who will want something that reminds them of what it used to be like."

Don't even ask us about carrying the orange feiyues. Just don't.

[GeneChing]

I don't even know what this below is about really, but it's an amusing plug for Feiyues.

Reality Theater: Memory of a Free Festival
Posted by Chris Klimek on Sep. 29, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Being an original drama in one act.

SETTING: The press tent of a large outdoor pop music festival in the suburbs. Not far from here. Not long from now.

CAST IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:

RICHARDS, a music critic for a newspaper, about thirty

A WOMAN, perhaps thirty-five

A BALD MAN, maybe forty

MALITZ, Richards’s malnourished colleague, also about thirty

KLIMEK, a writer, somewhat older than thirty

LIGHTS UP on a tent on a dusty field wherein a makeshift office has been erected. A dozen laptop computers, many of them covered in logo stickers, sit unattended on folding tables, power cords dangling precariously. The tables are also littered with piles of small zip-up nylon portfolios and maps and pamphlets. There is no more free water ANYwhere in this tent, if you can believe that ****. A MAN seated at one of the tables rubs sunscreen on his head. Music wafts in from a beyond a hill, loud but indistinct.

MALITZ uses a PROTRACTOR to adjust the bill of his SILVER JEWS BASEBALL CAP to precisely the right skewed angle while RICHARDS stands animated in conversation with A WOMAN, gesturing frequently towards his white FEIYUE SNEAKERS.

RICHARDS: …so I bought like nine pairs! I’ll totally get you some next time I’m in New York.

Enter KLIMEK.

KLIMEK: Hail, Fellows! I just thought I would drop by to charge my phone up for a minute and also, while that is happening, perhaps to engage in some collegial banter with the both of youse.

RICHARDS (To MALITZ): Don’t talk to him, Dude — he’s the enemy! The enemy!

MALITZ: The enemy is everywhere!

KLIMEK: What is that, a Blue Öyster Cult song or something?

MALITZ: Titus Andronicus. Heard of ‘em?

KLIMEK: I KNOW IT’S A ****ING TITUS ANDRONICUS SONG, YOU GOOF!

END OF PLAY.

[Violent Designs]

I like my Nike running shoes made of ultra-light composites and wired mesh, with air-soles....

So comfortable, and so light...

Feiyue sucks, I used to wear them. Break and die, gogo sh1t quality.

Get some real shoes like Pumas, Adidas or Nike sportswear.

[Lucas]

i like them but it depends on what im feeling like.

i generally wear addidas in door soccer shoes. best ma shoe imo. plus has applicablity, such as reinforced toe tip and a shielded heel.

[GeneChing]

I don't wear them as a street shoe. For the street, I wear ipaths. Although lately I've been thinking I should wear Feiyues for street shoes. I want to be as cool as Orlando Bloom.

[hasayfu]

I found this blog site that promotes the Chinese version over the French version and had this comparison image:


Also, they claim real feiyues are $39 USD so TC Feiyues are a bargain!!

http://feiyue-kungfu-shoes.blogspot.com/

[TenTigers]

do these run bigger, smaller, or true to size?
If a person is between a seven and seven and a half-what size do they order?
I am going to be ordering them for my students-and buying by mail is a chore unless you can get the size right.

[GeneChing]

There's a conversion chart alongside the product. I'm between 7 and 7.5 and I wear the 39s, but I like my Feiyues really snug...perhaps too snug... I'd suggest you go for the 40s.

I almost always buy shoes by mail strangely.