Li Ning???????????

http://www.startfitness.co.uk/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=0&P_ID=51343&strPageHistory=search&numSearchStartRecord=1

 

Anybody heard of these?? Never one for not wanting to try something new but the company is massive in Asia?

Comments

  • Not sure about the colour but for £30 quid could be worth you trialing them for the rest of us.image

  • haha just read a review from somewhere in USA and he said they were slippery as S**t in the wet image

  • probably no more slippery as shit in the wet than Newtons - worth a punt TV and let us know  image

  • In saying that all the Nikes I have ever owned, when I run over a man hole cover I nearly slip over so swings and roundabouts really image

  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭

    Li-Ning??!  Is this specially designed for someone with a leg length discrepancy?

  • PhilPub wrote (see)

    Li-Ning??!  Is this specially designed for someone with a leg length discrepancy?

    BOOM!

  • Snap!Snap! ✭✭✭
    Just the one 'BOOM', eh?
  • TenjisoTenjiso ✭✭✭

    Li Ning are a Chinese company that specialised in "clone" shoes. You might notice that their logo is not dissimilar to another brand. They now have their own R&D to create shoes of their own, and are at pains to point out that their logo is "nothing like a swoosh" image.  See for yourself - it's nothing like it - at li ning

  • Whilst in China last year, I saw dozens of their shops - very professional; good quality and wide range.  I have no doubt that they are as good as any of the American/European/Japanese brands - who all have their shoes made in China anyway!  And with the current trend for minimal shoes, there isn't a lot of R&D to steal - it's just a thin foam wedge with a one-piece upper?!

    Oh, ans Tenjiso, their logo looks absolutely nothing like Nike's if that's what you're saying.  Looks more like Brooks (but still not much)?

  • TenjisoTenjiso ✭✭✭

    I guess the three companies must have bought their logo's from the same design company tickshapedlogo.com 

    Otherwise it would just be a bit too coincidental.

    Off topic - I am in awe of the marketing departments that managed to sell shoes to "barefoot" runners.

  • I ran the Hamburg marathon last week and Li ning were one of the main sponsors. I had a very nice chat with a German fellow on their stand at the exhibition and apparently this company was started by an Olympic gymnast who is a bit of a hero in China. He lit the flame at the Beijing Olympics.

    They are massive in China and are gradually moving into Europe where they now have their own design department and sizing teams (generally europeans are bigger than chinese!) Supposedly the distribution network is just moving into the uk now.

    My finishers t-shirt is made by them and I would say it is the same sort of quality as any of my other running tops and some of the designs on display in Hamburg looked great with a decent price point.

    One to look out for??

  • BeetleBeetle ✭✭✭

    Couldn`t resist trying these out. Got a pair from Start Fitnesss - paid @ £29 with a discount code so couldn`t really go wrong. Postage @ £4-5.

    Me: aged 50; running since @ 16; doing marathons for the last 10 years; PB @ 2 `42 (4 yrs ago) - now a bit slower. 9 1/2 stone weakling - mid foot striker - neutral runner.

    Have run in various shoes - favourite for racing and training  - the Nike Lunaracer.

    The shoes. A rather `refreshing` yellow. Mesh upper.Actually quite attractive in a triathlete sort of way.

    Heel quite built up  (@ 1 inch) - but fairly broad. Was worried it would be a bit unstable for my tastes (twisted an ankle a few months ago so I`m a bit precious at the mo.) - but surprisingly, it wasn`t.

    Very light: my 7.5 (Eng) weighed  230g. My Lunaracers  (made in Vietnam, incidentally) - which are very light, weigh @ 175 g from memory. My New Balance RC 1600 (I think)  - made in China like Li NIng - weigh 150 g.

    The shoes seem as well made as any of my other shoes but time will tell.

    In terms of running: stable, comfortable, smooth.

    Cushioning was excellent for such a light shoe. I`ve always been a fan of the Lunaracer `feel` (some find it a bit spongy) - they`re my marathon shoe of choice. Adizeros and the RC 1600 are a bit firm for me. The Li Ning was somewhere in between.

    Some of the posters above referred to the Li Ning being slippery in the wet. That wasn`t my experience. This evening I ran along wet (damp, really) road and across some slightly slippery mud/fields. Grip was very good. Much better than my Adidas Adizeros.

    Conclusion: excellent shoe. Maybe they will fall apart in the near future -  as stated above, time will tell.

    At £29.00, kind of makes you think why the other manufacturers are charging so much (spent £85 on a pair of Sauconys for my son last weekend).

    One other thing: the sizing is slightly larger than Nike. I`m 8 in Nike and 7.5 in LP and would probably fit a 7.

     

  • Hog-mouseHog-mouse ✭✭✭

    There was a documentary on the company a while back, they admitted that their 'swoosh' was originally made to look like nikes 'swoosh'. As the company grew and became more successful they changed their swoosh to look less like the Nike swoosh but remain not to dissinilar to the original.

    They are using tech fabrics and claim to be making high end garmnts though those that I have seen have all been very heavy and very large, think baseball from the 70's.

     

  • BeetleBeetle ✭✭✭

    Can`t comment on their clothes - indeed, can`t comment on anything other than the shoe I tried, but so far as it is concerned, it appears to be as high tech as just about anything I`ve run in - and I`ve run in several hundreds of pairs of shoes over the years.

    I do sometimes think that the `major` manufacturers such as Nike, Adidas, etc exploit their brand image to charge exhorbitant prices. You often pay for the label.

    Equally, I have little doubt that if Li Ning crack the European/American market, their prices will rise dramatically. These companies will charge what we are willing i.e. daft enough, to pay.

    In the meantime, Li Ning represent very good value for money (subject to the usual personal biomechanical caveats).

  • Beetle well done!

    In the end I went for another pair of Adidas.....thinking stick to what you know. Also picked up some Salomons for the trail, But after your little review I think I will give a pair a bash in a couple of months after killing my Adidas. Keep us informed on how well they are wearing image

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    The Li Ning logo also bears a passing resemblence to the Brooks logo.

    I tried on some strange shoes the other night, but I can't remember what make they were.  

    They had tubes on the soles, which were (apparently) developed from poor African runners sticking sections of hose-pipe onto the soles of their shoes!

    This was in Sweatshop, but I can't now them on Sweatshop's website.  At 120 quid, I wasn't prepared to test them!

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭

    these wilks?? - https://www.on-running.com/shop

    if so, they've just come out tops in a trial of lightweight running shoes for triathlon - review in this month's 220 mag (or maybe Tri Plus - not quite sure)

  • I have looked into the old Li-Ning logo, the one that apparently looked like a the Nike Swoosh.  I'm sorry, but only a myopic drunk in a dark room could see the similarity.

    http://webkit-fake-url://CA2C9E69-11AD-4504-94EC-1DC15F9ABED1/lining-en.png

       

    http://webkit-fake-url://8B41EDE4-ADD5-4A2E-8388-E5238CD3B1C1/search.jpg

  • WilkieWilkie ✭✭✭

    Those two pics look exactly the same to me, DR!  image

    FB - yes, those are they image 

    They felt OK on, but they do look a bit weird, and I'd never heard of the make before.

     

  • image  Those images were there earlier, honest!

  • I got a pair of the basic lightweight from start fitness for £15, can't fault them, over 100 miles on them, going strong and liked them enough to buy a pair of the same ready for when the first are worn out. In following on from the nike comparisons they are easily as good quality as any nikes I've ever had

  • Gavin how did the sizing come up on them?

  • I wear a size 10 in Mizuno, Nike etc and 10's in these are spot on mate

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