Chinese sportswear brand Erke signs young artists on new program

On July 21, Chinese sportswear company Erke announced a 50 million yuan ($7.71 million) donation to flood-stricken Henan province, where more than 300 people died. Within a week of the donation, netizens united to give the struggling company great support. Statistics show in 36 hours, the company sold over 67 million yuan worth of goods on its social media platforms.

Zhao Hanqing is one of the consumers who showed his support to the company by purchasing a pair of shoes and he did more than that. The 26-year-old artist, who studied painting as a teenager and graduated from the School of Experimental Art at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, decorated the shoes by painting on them. His hand-drawn illustration has won lots of fans after he shared photos of his shoes on his social media platforms.

Fans loved Zhao's combination of his original painting with Erke's shoes. With many people sharing the photos online and sending them to Erke through social media, Zhao, surprisingly, got contacted by the company, which invited him to collaborate on bringing more designs for its products.

On Aug 9, Zhao was announced by Erke as its first signed artist, which is part of the company's project called Erke Youth Co-Creation Program. The same day, Wu Rongzhao, Erke CEO, welcomed Zhao by posting on his Sina Weibo account, saying, "Welcome Zhao Hanqing to Erke family. Let's dream and create together."

Zhao says, "When I saw people's warm feedback about my painting on the shoes, I was happy and hoped that Erke could see it. But I didn't expect it to really happen."

He adds that he bought the shoes in Erke's store in Anshan, Liaoning province, where he was born and raised.

The pair sold out fast and only the sample pieces used in the store was left, Zhao got a discount and bought the shoes at about 100 yuan. Talking about his painting on the shoes, he says since the shoes were black, he used golden color to paint it. The pattern he draws on the shoes came from his research on the similarity between the lines on the palm of a human hand and the lines on leaves.

"These kinds of squiggly lines appear in many of my works, including my graduation works," says Zhao, adding that he usually dips his hands into ink and prints his hands on xuanzhi, the canvas that traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphy are done on.

"I am very excited to become the company's first signed artist and from our discussions, I can tell that the company is a brand whose roots are firmly planted in our own culture," Zhao says.

Though he didn't unveil detailed information about his collaboration with the company, he says Erke Youth Co-Creation Program aims at offering opportunities for young Chinese artists to put their artistic ideas into the company's products' design.

On Aug 12, 24-year-old artist Xiao Honghu, a student of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, was announced as its second signed artist by Erke Youth Co-Creation Program on its social media platform. Xiao's design is based on the masterpiece, Along the River During the Qingming Festival (I), by 12th century painter Zhang Zeduan, which is one of the best-known ancient Chinese paintings.

Chinese Enterprises Like Erke Set Good Example with Henan Support

In July Henan province had been in the headlines since it was hit with torrential rains.

With donations, supplies and condolences rolling in, Chinese businesses are setting a positive example.

One of them is sportswear company Erke, which donated 50 million yuan ($7.71 million) worth of flood relief supplies and other aid. After Erke announced the move on social media, it received widespread support.

By noon on 24 July, its social media post had about 10 million likes and over 270,000 comments, most of them expressing respect and support for the company.

What made Erke's donation so impressive that it went viral is the gift was a huge sum for the company, considering that its business didn't seem to develop very smoothly over the past few years.

A comment left by a netizen called Baibutao ranked No 1 under the topic. "It feels like you're going out of business, but you donated so much," Baibutao wrote.

"The company has been keeping a low profile. It's certainly a good deed that deserves to be seen by more people," wrote another netizen.

On the evening of July 22, Erke's livestreaming channel on Taobao, Alibaba's e-commerce platform, attracted over 2 million people－a big increase from its usually less than 10,000 viewers. The popularity continued on the evening of July 23, when its livestreaming channel drew over 7.5 million viewers. The statistics also show that within 36 hours, Erke sold over 67 million yuan worth of goods on all of its social media platforms.

According to e-commerce giant JD.com, on July 22 and 23, Chinese sportswear companies' overall sales increased 280 percent year-on-year. Erke saw a 52-fold sales increase on July 23.

"Thanks to you, Erke has made headlines, and we've received lots of warm messages. I want to thank all of you, and let's draw together to help Henan," said Wu Rongzhao, chief executive of Erke, who appeared in the livestreaming channel on Taobao on July 23. "I am deeply touched by your feedback. We will continue to do a good job in bringing out products and services," he also told netizens during the livestreaming to buy rationally.

The company, founded in 2000 and headquartered in Xiamen, Fujian province, has over 7,000 branch companies around the world. Wu said in an early interview that it started from a small factory in Jinjiang, a city known as the "footwear capital", in Fujian.

Wu's father ran a shoemaking business in the 1980s and Wu, along with his elder brother Wu Rongguang, joined the family business after graduating from universities.

However, compared with other Chinese sportswear enterprises, which have attracted lots of consumers, especially among the younger generations, Erke experienced a decline in the market during the past few years.

In 2020, its revenue was 2.8 billion yuan, far behind Chinese sportswear brands like Li-Ning, founded by the similarly named champion gymnast, which had sales of 14.4 billion yuan in 2020, and Anta Sports, founded in 1991, which had 35.5 billion yuan in sales last year.

While praising Erke's strong sense of social responsibility, netizens also called on the company to do more marketing to increase their sales.

One netizen left messages for Wu, giving suggestions on the company's product design and marketing strategy.

"The company's donation to Henan deserves respect. As a consumer, I suggest that your products need simpler designs. For the colors, you can lower the saturation. The quality of the photos of your products also needs to be higher," the netizen wrote.

Wu Rongzhao replied: "What you said is very professional. We used to focus on the quality of the products, hoping to give the consumers better experiences of wearing our products. We will also work hard on the design. We welcome you to join us if you work in this field."

Just after midnight on 25 July morning, Wu posted on Sina Weibo about the company's growth and struggles since it was born two decades ago.

"In 2003, half of our equipment and materials were destroyed by a flood. In 2008, the company went through the global financial crisis. In 2015, a massive fire raged through our factory. Despite all those setbacks, we survived and still believe in bringing out products with craftsmanship," Wu wrote. "It's not true that the company is on the verge of bankruptcy. We've been working hard on changing our marketing strategy and have achieved results.

"It is a total surprise that the company received so much attention from netizens. We are flattered by and grateful for their support. Chinese people are kindhearted and united. We believe in the rise of Chinese enterprises. We can make it," he wrote.