Best Value Running (or Any Sport) Shoes Opinions

Shortly8 on 23/03/2025 - 00:57
Last edited 23/03/2025 - 01:02

Found some interesting info from these sources:

I bought some OneMix Light Armour shoes since they apparently got sued by Nike and were subcontractors for them (how does a random person on the internet know this is beyond me), and they actually have 1 and a bit carbon plates! They are obviously doing something right and they are by far the cheapest.

Some Chinese running shoes are highly regarded, regardless of price (361, Li-ning etc.).

I noticed a bunch of random Chinese companies on AliExpress have made basketball shoes in collaboration with basketball athletes. Li-ning comes to mind for making all sorts of respected sports shoes.

Feel like this could save people a lot of money! Please people with personal experience and/or knowledge put your input or deals here!

Sports & Outdoors Footwear Running Shoes

Comments

  • wal990 on 23/03/2025 - 06:55
    +2

    I can only speak on running shoes, Chinese manufacturers make very good carbon plated runners/racers. They pretty much source the same foam at the same chinese factory that make your 300dollar+ super shoes.

    The best deals are to shop directly from Taobao from the brand's own store, instead of shopping on aliexpress where middlemen markup alot (50%+) and run the risk of getting counterfeits (the Youtube video you linked, they bought a pair of counterfeit 361 Furious Futures to compare with the Onemix, the legit pair is on par with the Alphafly 300 AUD on aliexpress or 180 AUD from Taobao https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3uXz_svOZw <—- saw an aussie just dropped a review on them).

    Some of the more popular brands in terms of value/performance worth looking at.
    BMAI (for a while they sold their Jintan 3 for 120 AUD, which used the same compound as Adidas's 750AUD PRO EVO 1. Foam from the company Shincell in Suzhou, they had to stop because the foaming tech had a 20% yield and switched to PEBA.)
    Xtep
    361
    Erke

    As for the "random chinese companies", they are just unknown in the west. Interestingly, researching mainstream chinese running shoes, onemix is never mentioned.

    • Shortly8 on 23/03/2025 - 14:07

      Thanks for the educational response! I am well aware that "random Chinese companies" is an unfair categorisation, idk why I subconsciously added this.

      "Interestingly, researching mainstream chinese running shoes, onemix is never mentioned." Yes I found this as well, not mentioned at all on Reddit.

      Do you have any tips on buying or using Taobao as an English speaker? Any things to look out for etc. (caveats)?

      It's a damn shame I didn't speak to you before purchasing my OneMix carbon plate runners or Li-ning basketball shoes from AliExpress, but they seem like solid picks nonetheless and were bought directly from the manufacturers' stores.

      • Shortly8 on 23/03/2025 - 14:42

        Seems like I can't change the website to English, maybe this is different for the app? Regardless, I can't register an account without doing a face scan! Lol

        • Shortly8 on 23/03/2025 - 14:49

          However, I'd still like to make an account for your aforementioned reasons.

          • Shortly8 on 23/03/2025 - 15:19

            @Shortly8: Yeah so the app does English, but making an account is still an absolute fudge around.

      • wal990 on 23/03/2025 - 17:38
        +1

        You can mostly search for shoe names and buy from the Official Flagship Stores / "Brand Name官方旗舰店" in Chinese.

        You have freight option by sea or air both by individual package or through a parcel consolidation method (if you buy alot), there are small number of store that will ship your item for free to a local Australian pick up point (361, Erke, Xtep) offer this.

        Don't know about sign up process as i had my account from long ago. Perhaps use the desktop website and google translate the pages.

        Taobao being owned by Alibaba is also linked with Alipay, if you have an Alipay account you can use that to log in.

        • Shortly8 on 25/03/2025 - 15:02

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw7aTuWOW10 if the comments are true, I just got unbelievable value from the OneMix shoe from AliExpress. Out of curiosity have you tried this shoe, and is it cheaper on TaoBao?

          • wal990 on 25/03/2025 - 20:17

            @Shortly8: i've never ran in onemix shoes, just had a quick look, surprisingly this onemix shoe (from the video) is retailing for about 110 AUD on Taobao. edit. its a model from 2022, perhaps why the discounted price, good value nonetheless

            keen to know your thoughts after you've put some mileage in them

            • Shortly8 on 26/03/2025 - 13:09

              @wal990: I will let you know, though I have never worn carbon plated running shoes, so I might not have a baseline, but I will let you know if they are generally comfortable. It appears to be the 'light armour' which is cheaper on Ali (+ coupon codes), if I am correct?

    • Shortly8 on 23/03/2025 - 15:18

      Find it odd that this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/RunningShoeGeeks/comments/16g4pl9/w…, does not mention a single Chinese shoe, that I noticed from a cursory glance.

  • corvusman on 23/03/2025 - 10:40
    +1

    I bought a pair of Li Ning fly knit runners on holidays overseas for about ~$60. Very happy, they look great, comfortable, quality is as good as $300 Nikes. Solid brand.

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