Feiyue is a Chinese shoe brand founded in Shanghai owned by Dafu Rubber Co., Ltd. The brand was acquired by Feiyue International, a subsidiary of BBC International LLC (no relation to BBC News) in 2014.
The word "Feiyue" () means "to leap" or "to fly over" and is reminiscent of the Great Leap Forward.
The shoes were first produced in Shanghai during the 1920s. Since 2006 there have been two separate companies creating Feiyue shoes: Da Fu Rubber and its subsidiary manufacturer, Double Coin Holdings, and a French company operating separately from the original Chinese company.
A number of performers wore Feiyue China shoes during the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Actor Orlando Bloom was spotted wearing the French version of Feiyue shoes.
The Chinese factory has 3,000 employees producing 36,000 pairs a day, with an average of 5,000,000 pairs sold in China yearly.
History
Feiyue's roots can be traced to the 1920s when cloth shoes were manufactured in Shanghai. In 1958, DaFu Rubber Company designed and produced a kind of civil shoe known as "Feiyue," a modification of the cloth shoes used by the Shaolin monks. They gained popularity during the 1930s 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 being used by Shaolin monks and Kung Fu masters.
In 1963, using Feiyue and double arrow-labeled chevrons with "Feiyue track and field," the company became the best-selling shoe in China with an output of 1,616,000 pairs. By the 1980s, Feiyue sold about 4 million pairs yearly. With the opening up of China and the associated cultural and economic shifts, the sneaker began to lose prominence in China, and by the end of the 1990s, the brand started selling in bulk due to low demand. Once a highly regarded brand, by then only elder people and martial arts practitioners valued it as a cheap and durable brand. In 2003, Shanghai Shenglong relaunched the production of shoes.
In 2005, Patrice Bastian got together with a group of artists to change the brand name. In February 2006, they launched the first French-designed Feiyue Shoe collection.
The DaFu Rubber Company reorganized and sold the rights to Feiyue to the "Shuang Qian Group Co. Ltd," in 2009. That company leased manufacturing back to DaFu and another manufacturer, "Top One" (大博文).
In 2014, BBC International, the Boca Raton, Florida-based footwear firm, acquired the French Feiyue shoe company. Upon working with BBC, Feiyue's men's, women's, and children's collections were updated and globally introduced in Spring of 2015.
BBC has made a large new collection that builds on its existing brand. It uses high-quality materials like leather.
In 2015, BBC International Launched a collaboration with Feiyue and Peanuts for a limited-edition collection. Before BBC's acquisition deal in August 2014, Feiyue had major success in collaborations, including collections with Celine, André, Casio, Bonton, NSBQ, and more; and continuing with other collaborations beginning with Peanuts.
The American Feiyue company collaborated in 2016 with the Solid & Striped clothing company, with textiles based on Solid & Striped designs.
Intellectual property rights dispute
A dispute exists surrounding the trademark and intellectual property rights to Feiyue between the United States-owned company, Feiyue International, LLC, and Shanghai Da Fu Rubber Co, the company that originally manufactured the shoe. Liu Qinglong, manager of Shanghai Da Fu Rubber Co Ltd, said of the situation in 2017, “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.” According to the Young Post: "Liu claims the French company took advantage of the Chinese at a time when China was still grappling with capitalism and transitioning from all factories being state-owned assets to devolving some rights to individual businesses."