China’s most iconic shoe brand, Feiyue, is making great leaps overseas
“I’m wearing the coolest shoes now, Feiyue,” The Vaccines lead singer Justin Young tells GQ. “Best travel shoe? Feiyue trainers. I live in them,” model Poppy Delevingne (who debuted her own Poppy x Feiyue range in 2020) admits to W magazine. “Feiyue! Nice!” tweeted K-pop megastar Lee Dong-hae to his millions of followers in 2012.
In nearly a decade since China’s “little white shoe” went global, it has counted mega-stars like Alessandra Ambrosio and Orlando Bloom among its fans, formed collaborations with international brands like Celine and Casio, and set up shops and billboards in London and New York.
In 2012, Feiyue established a flagship store in Paris and had just debuted in South Korea following a global media blitz. Many netizens at the time wondered at Feiyue suddenly becoming a thing on the international fashion circuit. The collective reaction was summed up by one commentator on Twitter, “Who told hipsters about Feiyue shoes? They’re strictly nostalgia items my parents’ generation buy.”
How an Iconic Shoe Brand Finally Became Cool is a story from our issue, “Call of the Wild.” To read the entire issue, become a subscriber and receive the full magazine. Alternatively, you can purchase the digital version from the App Store.
Jesse Young is a translator, tea-seller and sometime events organiser/poet based in Beijing.
