After 90 years, Warrior still running strong

Imaginechina

Warrior shoes, or Huili, China’s first homegrown athletic shoes at an affordable price with thin, flexible soles and a light canvas body, have tramped through the ages, survived the tumultuous 20th century and lives on today.

In 1927, a rubber factory was established on Tangshan Road in Yangpu District to produce galoshes, which was the origin of Warrior shoes. In 1935, the brands “Huili” and “Warrior” were both registered, with their implication of bravery and courage to fight adversity.

In the late 1940s, the rubber factory sponsored a basketball team, which soon rose to fame throughout the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, strengthening and spreading the Warrior name.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the first batch of Warrior’s basketball players retired and Warrior started to provide professional sneakers for Chinese national teams.

The 565 Basketball Series, launched in May 1956, was a luxury at the time and cost almost half the average monthly salary.

“It was absolutely a source of pride for those who owned a 565,” said Zhang Yuming, vice general manager and senior engineer of Shanghai Warrior Shoes Co Ltd. “This series walks through the memories of youth of many people my age.”

In 1979, the Warrior WB-1 hit the market. Two years later, the Chinese Women’s Volleyball Team, wearing WB-1s, wiped out all opposition and won the world championship.

Warrior’s name was made and the brand became trendy in the 1980s.

A star-studded list of Chinese athletes were the shoemaker’s greatest fans. It once designed a series for Zheng Haixia, a female basketball player, 2.06 meters tall with 52 shoe size.

The soles of its shoes were especially designed for playing basketball, with one large sucker, about 3 millimeters in diameter, and many other small suckers to ensure grip.

Former Chinese volleyball player Lang Ping led the national team — in Warrior Shoes — to win the gold medal in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

The shoes’ toe caps were made of leather, because they needed to be very strong, and the sole was made to be skid-proof with wave-patterns. The shoes were so soft and light they could be twisted at all directions and wouldn’t go out of shape.

“When playing basketball, they fit your feet perfectly. If they are too hard, the player will feel uncomfortable,” Zhang said.

But the shoemaker faced its own “middle-age” crisis around the 1990s when multi-function Western designer brands flooded in.

At the same time, domestic private shoemakers were mushrooming. At the peak, there were more than 30,000 shoe factories across China and one-third of them made rubber shoes.

With the competition from abroad and at home, the old brand suffered a decadelong downfall and painful changes as its factories and shops shut down and workers lost their jobs.

Around 2000, after a series of mergers and reshuffling, Warrior finally made a strong comeback and started its new journey, walking a new path.

Today, Warrior brands itself as affordable, trendy and high-quality. As a long-time companion for many Chinese, it is creating precious new memories for them.

It now invites fashion designers to attract more young people, cooperates with big brands in other industries and works with celebrities and pop stars.

Warrior has shoes for not only basketball and volleyball, but also marathon running, jogging, walking, badminton, tennis, ping pong and many others.

“As a matter of fact, there are more than 5,000 shoe series, the biggest one in China,” Zhang said. 

In 2008, Hollywood star Orlando Bloom wearing a pair of Warrior shoes was spotted at the film set of “New York, I Love You.” A photo of him went viral and quickly earned the brand a legion of new fans, who splurged hundreds of dollars to buy a pair of Warrior shoes online. 

More Chinese stars began to copy Bloom, including the Chinese-Canadian actor Kris Wu and actresses Yang Mi and Tang Yan.

In 2017, its 90th anniversary, the shoemaker launched a limited edition with PepsiCo.

The collaboration between a pop culture icon and an old Chinese brand won favor with youngsters and the shoes were seen everywhere from universities to skating rinks.

At the same time, Warrior recovered ground through e-commerce. Its online sales break its own records and some of its shoes make it to the best-seller list on Taobao.com.

In 2018, Warrior sold 68.4 million pairs of shoes, making it No. 1 in China.

“Warrior will always keep going forward,” Zhang said.