Although traditional cloth shoes are soft and comfortable, after the 1980s, most Chinese began to prefer the various styles of fashionable leather shoes over the simpler, old-fashioned cloth shoes that were once worn by everyone in the country. However, nowadays people are looking for shoes that not only look good but also feel good, paving the way for cloth shoes to find their way to the feet of today's trendsetters.

Traditional roots

Cloth shoes have been worn in China for over 3,000 years. The earliest known reference to the common foot coverings in China's history can be found on the feet of a statue of a warrior that dates back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC) in Shanxi. Before the 1980s, hand-made cloth shoes were still very popular and most Chinese owned a pair, typically in solid black with white soles, although Liberation (Jiefang) shoes and Warrior (Huili) shoes were particularly favored during the 1960s and 1970s, respectively.

But cloth shoes became less popular in China after the reform and opening-up policy (proposed in 1978) suddenly offered much broader horizons to Chinese. Many people eagerly welcomed the entry of goods from a dynamic and colorful outer world, regarding traditional domestic things, like black cloth shoes, as old world and out of date.

Nowadays, cloth shoe producers, old and new, have been able to keep pace with trends, focusing on innovation and breaking the mold to compete in today's market.

Updating classics

Neiliansheng is a famous old cloth shoe shop in Beijing that was founded in 1853. When cloth shoes began to be regarded as out of fashion, the shop owners saw a downturn in business and realized it was time for an update.

"In about 2007, we embarked on a project to bring innovation to our products, using traditional craftsmanship to meet the needs of the market in the modern era, and creating new styles of cloth shoes instead of sticking to the old 'black tiger,'" said Liu Yang, who works for Neiliansheng. "We were desperately in need of new designers."

At 26, Chen Zheng, who had just finished studying fashion design in Paris, joined the staff at Neiliansheng and soon became the company's chief designer.

"In my mind, Neiliansheng's business was good, but its shoes hadn't been updated,"she said. "I started thinking about how to add more modern elements to their cloth shoes."

The company gave great support to the young designer, providing her with a special team of skilled senior artificers. After learning about the manufacturing process of the shoes, the new chief designer set about introducing fashionable colors, materials and cuts, maintaining the original style while adding an edge.

"Each week we created a few new designs and then made five to six sample pairs and immediately sent them to the store to sell, waiting for the response from the market. I often went to the store to see how customers reacted to our designs. The results were great! They would sell out almost immediately when they appeared on the market."

Currently there are 3,000 styles of cloth shoes made by Neiliansheng, which has expanded its inventory from the men's-only line that it produced decades ago to include wares for women and children, as well as a line of expensive but popular slippers.