Having fallen off the radar for more than a decade, an iconic Chinese shoe brand is now looking to regain its foothold in the market with new premium offerings and designs

Zhou Wei, executive director of Warrior. Provided to China Daily

Warrior, a well-known Chinese shoe brand that dates back to 1927, is in the midst of rebranding itself as it eyes a comeback in the modern sneaker market, said Zhou Wei, executive director of the company.

According to Zhou, Warrior will be introducing a premium range of products in order to attract a different segment of consumers and the designs of three of its classic shoes have already been changed to reflect this new brand positioning.

"After selling hundreds of thousands of its classic shoes in the past 40 years, it is time for Warrior to upgrade itself into a more high-end brand," Zhou said.

"We also plan to upgrade seven authorized trial stores in Nanchang of Jiangxi province and Xi'an of Shaanxi province, to sell our newly released medium- and high-end products. Based on the market response, we may expand our sales network to even more cities."

The new shoes are made using different fabrics and leather and will be available on its online stores on Tmall, JD.com and WeChat in August. Warrior will also be opening its first flagship store in Shanghai's Yuyuan Garden on Aug18.

In addition, the brand is looking to develop new products by using the state-of-the-art technology, such as shoes with rollers and children's shoes equipped with tracking devices in the coming three years.

"Warrior used to have a proud history and now we are integrating parent company Huayi Group's capital, talents as well as technology into the new Warrior to support the brand comeback," said Fang Guangqing, chairman of Shanghai Huayi (Group) Investment Co Ltd.

In July 1927, the predecessor of Shanghai Warriorshoes Co Ltd was founded on No 41 Tangshan Road in Shanghai and shoe production started in 1934. The brand was later registered in April 1935.

Warrior was considered to be a considerably high-end product from the 1960s to 1970s. A pair of Warrior shoes then cost more than 10 yuan, which at that time was equivalent to one-third of most urbanites' monthly salaries.

The shoes soon became a highly coveted item and were often used to reward children who excelled in school. However, students who owned a pair of Warrior shoes hardly used them as they were considered too precious to be worn for physical education lessons.

Even China's top athletes wore Warrior shoes during those times. Some of them include famous volleyball player Zhou Xiaolan and basketball player Zheng Haixia, as well as volleyball legends Lang Ping and ping-pong player Cao Yanhua.

The 89-year-old shoe brand was China's only athletic shoes maker until competitors entered the market following the country's reform and opening-up. As Warrior did little to change its designs, it gradually surrendered its market dominance to international brands like Nike and Adidas which were considered more stylish by consumers from the younger generation.

When Warrior underwent restructuring in 2000, their shoes could only be found in street-side stalls, dealing a further blow to the company's image.

The brand experienced a revival in 2008 when nostalgic products became trendy among consumers. The classic Warrior shoes were suddenly popular again and the shoe brand seized this opportunity to develop new products to attract the younger generation.

"During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, queues would form outside Warrior stores even before they opened. The amount of revenue the store on the Wangfujing shopping street made in a single month was equivalent to its average annual revenue," recalled Zhou, who served as Warrior's general manager between 2008 and 2010.

According to Zhou, the brand has experienced healthy growth over the past few years, having expanded its sales revenue from about 200 million yuan ($29.9 million) in 2010 to 700 million yuan in 2015 when 60 million shoes were sold. The brand is now looking to achieve double digit year-on-year growth in sales revenue in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20).

"This year marks another turning point for Warrior after the revival in 2008, and we expect to see Warrior become the sneaker brand of choice following the introduction of our new medium- and high-end products," said Zhou.

He added that the new premium offerings, which will mostly be priced between 200 yuan and 500 yuan, does not indicate that Warrior will no longer develop more affordable shoewear. Zhou expects Warrior's medium- and high-end products to account for at least one-fifth of the company's total revenue by 2020.

wang_ying@chinadaily.com.cn