Source: People's Daily

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Create a pair of shoes that can "leap"

Reshape the brand to catch up with the new trend (consumption Window·Time-honored New National Trend ③)

At the Feiyue product selection meeting, dealers were selecting products. People's Vision

Core Reading

The exquisite craftsmanship and design accumulated over many years are treasures inherited by many time-honored brands, but it is not enough to rely on classic models to win the world. Only by seizing the new wave of consumption and accelerating the pace of innovation can "time-honored brands" become "new national trends" and radiate new vitality

Speaking of canvas shoes, many people will think of a pair of white uppers. Feiyue brand white shoes with yellow soles and red and blue V-shaped parallel bars logo printed on the upper.

The history of Feiyue shoes can be traced back to the Shanghai Dafu Rubber Factory in the 1930s. In 1953, the factory was renamed "Local State-owned Dafu Rubber Factory". In 1958, the "Feiyue" brand was born here. The following year, the annual output of Feiyue civilian Jiefang shoes reached 1.611 million pairs. Its simple and bright design, light and comfortable wearing feeling were deeply loved by consumers.

In the 1990s, Feiyue fell into a trough. In recent years, with product innovation and brand remodeling, Feiyue shoes have made a "leap" again.

Re-establish the brand

Organize catwalk events offline, target social platforms such as Douban online, and do a good job in community operations and content dissemination

Talk about a leap forward Liu Wangsheng is full of pride. In the 1964 national competition, Feiyue Jiefang shoes won the championship due to their continuous wearing life of 351 days and a comprehensive score of 167.45 points. From the 1970s to the 1980s, the annual sales of Feiyue rubber shoes exceeded 10 million pairs, nearly half of which were sold overseas. The classic red and blue color stripes became one of the beautiful scenery of that era.

Although the situation is good, the profits of rubber shoes are slim. In the 1990s, Dafu Rubber Factory switched to producing tires with higher profits, and transferred the rubber shoe business to the joint venture Dabowen Shoe Factory. At this time, Dabowen Shoe Factory mainly manufactured for overseas brands, and Feiyue shoes were not mass-produced. . In 2002, Dafu Rubber Factory ceased production. Where should Feiyue go?

"I still have feelings. If I want this brand to survive, it can't just disappear." In 2003, Liu Wangsheng obtained the Feiyue trademark rights from the former Dafu Rubber Co., Ltd. and began to re-produce Feiyue shoes. But the market environment has been completely different. More and more international brands are pouring into the Chinese market, and the market has forgotten the leap.

If there is no market, just sell it door to door!

In the autumn of 2003, Liu Wangsheng and his colleagues took sample shoes to Beijing to participate in the National Shoes and Hats Fair. "That memory is very profound. When it comes to Leap, everyone is unfamiliar with it. They bluntly said that they have never heard of it, are unclear about it, and don't understand it." There is no other way, I have to bite the bullet. Shijiazhuang, Hohhot... After traveling to many places, and repeatedly hitting the wall, I finally got some orders, which I can barely support.

"Market development is very difficult, but it also makes me understand that we must re-launch the brand and let the market understand it again!"

How easy is it to re-launch a brand?

In 2007, a young man named Tian Bo led a team called Culture Matters (CM for short) to find a leap forward. The CM team hopes to carry forward the domestic brand and has some new ideas for brand transformation, which is exactly what Feiyue needs most. After detailed discussions, the two parties reached a consensus on product positioning, publicity, design and other issues, and cooperated with each other to learn from each other's strengths: Dafu was responsible for design and production, and CM was responsible for brand operations.

Offline, CM and Dafu held a catwalk event, with models wearing Feiyue shoes for display; online, they targeted social platforms such as Douban to do a good job in community operations and content dissemination. Gradually, Feiyue has accumulated many loyal consumers.

In 2015, the Star Wars co-branded Leap White Shoes were born. At that time, Shanghai Disneyland was about to open and "Star Wars: Episode VIII" was about to be released. Disney was looking for cooperation with domestic brands to promote brand localization. The Star Wars collaboration was a great success, paving the way for white shoes to enter the market.

In 2016, Dafu took advantage of the trend and launched Feiyue co-branded shoes such as Pepsi-Cola, Marvel, and ZTE mobile phones. During the National Day in 2019, as one of the series of activities of the 5th Sino-French Brand Summit Forum, Feiyue co-branded shoes designed by designers for 9 domestic brands such as Yunnan Baiyao and Laoganma were exhibited in Paris, France, and were well received at home and abroad. Consumers are following it.

What once was a silent leap is now setting sail again.

Focus on product research and development

Seize the new wave of consumption and accelerate the pace of innovation

"No, this is something we deliberately reserved, reflecting our personality." Liu Wangsheng said that in the early years, many processes of Feiyue shoes were completed manually, resulting in the phenomenon of glue overflow in Feiyue shoes. Now, some consumers like this kind of glue spillage very much and feel that it "feels like a leap in memory."

Exquisite craftsmanship and design accumulated over many years are treasures inherited by many time-honored brands, but it is not enough to rely on classic models to become world-famous. Only by seizing the new wave of consumption and accelerating the pace of innovation can "time-honored brands" become "new national trends" and radiate new vitality.

In 2008, Dafu began to improve the classic models. The first six improved models tested did not have fundamental changes. They just made mid-to-high tops on the basis of the classic 501 model, and adjusted the curvature of the shoe mouth to make it more comfortable. It is easy to put on and take off, and the market response has been good, proving that the improvement is feasible. By the time of the second improvement in 2009, Dafu began to introduce blue, white, platinum and other colors, and at the same time, the outsole and upper were carefully modified to make them more comfortable to wear.

Now, Dafu has specially hired designers based in the factory. The number of designers has reached more than a dozen, with an average age of about 30 years old. They are responsible for the research and development of new canvas shoes.

Feiyue is no longer the brand that only sells white shoes!

On the second floor of Dafu’s headquarters, there are 1,500 sample shoes on display, mainly canvas shoes, with various colors, high, high and low tops, semi-slippers with or without heel, and winter models with fleece. , there are co-branded models, and hand-painted series. The products are becoming increasingly rich, and the technology is constantly innovating and changing. This year, in the upcoming new product "Down to Earth" series, Feiyue introduces 3D printing technology for the first time, which greatly reduces model production time. In the future, more customized patterns and complex structural processes can be printed using 3D technology.

"We are always doing one thing, which is to make every pair of shoes called Feiyue." Liu Wangsheng always believes in one truth: "Only good products can be passed down forever."

Shorten the distance between products and consumers, and develop new styles according to different needs

In the Feiyue Shoe Collection Store located in the ASE Center in Xujiahui, Shanghai, red and blue The V-shaped parallel bar logo covers the exterior wall, and the store is filled with Feiyue's classic 501 and various upgraded styles. From time to time, consumers are attracted to the store.

From selling for 20 yuan to hundreds of yuan, from the wholesale market to Nanluoguxiang in Beijing, Nanjing Road in Shanghai and other business districts, Leap gradually changed the "cheap" impression in the minds of consumers and became a A typical representative of high-quality domestic products.

Reversing brand image and positioning is not easy!

Previously, Dafu adopted a traditional distribution model, with regional exclusive agents in various places responsible for market sales. Under the agency distribution model, there are dealers at all levels between brands and consumers, and market expansion relies on the personal capabilities of dealers. Many traditional dealers are unable to make timely feedback and adjustments according to market demand, and some dealers still adopt a low-price and high-volume wholesale model, which is not conducive to leapfrog transformation and establishment of brand image.

In 2016, Dafu decided to cancel the regional exclusive agency and adopt a single-point authorization franchise method. All dealers need to obtain direct authorization from Dafu headquarters every time they open a new store. This transformation eliminated nearly 100 dealers at once, and the entire sales channel was equivalent to tearing down and starting from scratch.

"This change has greatly shortened the distance between the brand and consumers, and at the same time strengthened the screening and checking of dealer qualifications." Liu Wangsheng said that dealers must be very familiar with Feiyue's history and brand philosophy. Understand and have your own ideas and judgments on brand development and market expansion.

Online, Dafu has also made changes, hiring professional companies to operate official flagship stores, and developing new styles for different online and offline consumer needs.

The sales mechanism reform has achieved remarkable results. Currently, Dafu has more than 300 dealers and more than 700 offline retail stores. The annual sales growth rate of Feiyue shoes has exceeded 50% in the past two years. In 2019, Feiyue shoes sold more than 10 million pairs, with sales of nearly 200 million yuan.

In the near future, Dafu will hold the second product selection meeting this year. At that time, dealers from all over the country will gather together to select favorite styles from more than 500 new shoes. Dafu will then batch them based on the voting results. put into production.