Chinese sportswear brand Erke signs young artists on new program

China Daily | 01-Sep-2021 | By Chen Nan

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.