“Feiyue”, which means “flying forward”, is a fashion brand made in Shanghai on the ECNU campus. The shoe is becoming more popular among young people, especially on college campuses in China. The ECNU Master House successfully launched the design of the exclusive “flying shoes” after obtaining the proper marketing license of the university’s cultural and creative products authorities.
Long Yitian is an ECNU alumni who graduated from the School of Design in the summer of 2019. She was asked to design this exclusive sneaker and to work out the certain color patterns—red and white—that take into account the characteristics of the school and also convenience of daily wear.
“In terms of the shoe’s style, I made 7 or 8 design prototypes,” she said. “And finally considered the cost, effect and other factors, like how to choose a simple, classic look.” The tongue of the shoe presents the official ECNU badge—a familiar icon to all students on the campus.
On the back the shoe reads the Chinese characters Shida (“normal school”) and Dashi (“master teacher”). Although the sneaker’s design incorporates other elements of ECNU, Yitian points out that the original concept for designing the “flying shoes” was to make them look symmetrical, from the right-side to left-side, so that they would be more fashionable.
“ECNU 1951”, printed on the heel of the shoe, represents the year the school was founded in 1951. In her eyes, ECNU has progressed step by step:“Leap” being the history and the future while “Flying Leap” welcomes the school’s progress with joy and celebration.
Long Yitian believes that the Feiyue brand will make its own name by paying attention to practicality and not to deliberately pursue the luxury of appearance. In other words, letting it prosper, step by step, with persistence, and at last it would stand the test of time... This is the school motto of East China Normal University, and keeps with the spirit of seeking truth and innovation.
The first batch of the “flying shoes” reached 2000 pairs. This sneaker has been put on the master house of the two ECNU campuses at Zhongbei and Minhang.
Edited by Linlan Zhang Proofread by Joshua Mayfield Reviewed by Wenjun Guo
