In 2007, the lifestyle and sports team of Li Ning’s design department where Zhou Xiaofan worked received a task to design lifestyle sneakers with a cartoon mix theme.
Initially, he planned to use the image of O'Neal, one of Li Ning's spokespersons, but later in order to avoid a collision with the company's basketball department, Zhou Xiaofan had to give up this idea.
Zhou Xiaofan, who was helpless, felt very "_". He usually likes to write and draw when he has nothing to do, so he casually drew the word "_" on the paper.
At that time, the word "_" had just become popular in the Tianya community. This ancient Chinese character was transformed from Taiwan. In a kou character, there is a pair of drooping eyebrows on the top, and another kou below. Originally it had the meaning of "brightness".
Because the glyph looks like a crying face, it has become a popular word used by many netizens to express sadness, helplessness and embarrassment.
The character "_" drawn by Zhou Xiaofan also had arms and legs added to it, giving him a winking and frustrated look, much like the confused Zhou Xiaofan himself.
After thinking hard for a long time, Zhou Xiaofan suddenly jumped up and said to his partner: "Let's just make a pair of '_' shoes. You see, _ is a portrait of the living conditions of most young people.
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My life is no longer poor, but I cannot sit back and relax. My career is basically stable but there is always pressure. I am very motivated but feel an inexplicable sense of loss from time to time, just like this low mood. The unlucky face with drooped eyebrows and dumbfounded face is in the state of '_'."
With this initial idea, Zhou Xiaofan and his partners planned to sublimate this idea. "'_'The living conditions sometimes make people of our generation like to reminisce about the past, especially the nostalgia for childhood, such as those cartoon faces that accompany childhood memories, such as Black Cat Sheriff, Avanti, Calabash Baby Wait.”
In this way, Zhou Xiaofan’s team transformed these familiar cartoon images into “_” shapes and pasted them on the uppers of Li Ning shoes.
The first person to spread the word about Li Ning_ shoes was an unknown netizen. He published a blog post titled "_People Wear_ Shoes, Li Ning Really_" and attached several photos from different angles. Everyone was attracted by this pair of shoes and reposted them one after another. Netizens spontaneously acted as free "promoters" for Li Ning shoes, and the shoes became more and more popular on the Internet.
Subsequently, traditional media were also attracted and took the initiative to inquire about the creative process of "_" shoes. Afterwards, Zhou Xiaofan recalled: "The real designer of '_' shoes is hundreds of millions of netizens. I just sensitively anticipated and caught this trend and copied this idea."
Li Ning shoes were launched in early July 2008. Orders have been issued for more than 80,000 pairs, and retail stores are often sold out.