Sneaker “Two balls”. The new sneakers completely replicate the Soviet-Chinese models - they are produced on the same equipment as in the 1970s and retain classic design. The Village spoke with the founder of the brand, Evgeny Raikov, about the revival of iconic sneakers, the features of domestic crowdfunding and the production process.
Evgeniy Raikov
founder of "Two Balls"
After graduating from the Faculty of Management of the National Research University Higher School of Economics, I worked at AFK Sistema and Intellect-Telecom. Everything was going well, but I wasn’t very interested, so at some point I left and started working in jeans: I worked for Denis Simachev, helped open the GJO.E store on Nikitsky Boulevard. But the idea of creating a brand that would convey our national identity never left me; From friends I heard about the Soviet “Two Balls” sneakers and realized that this was what I needed.
In 1957, the VI World Festival of Youth and Students was held in the USSR, to which many foreign juniors came wearing sneakers. After some time, the Soviet GOST for sneakers was formed, and in 1965 the first model “Two Balls” of Soviet-Chinese production appeared. Since the “Two Balls” sneakers were quite durable, comfortable and beautiful, they were worn by everyone - from Yuri Gagarin to the wolf from “Well, wait a minute!” The main peak of popularity occurred in 1965–1975. But by the 1980s, sneakers appeared on the Soviet market, and sneakers faded into the background - they were worn mainly by children and street children.
In 2013, I registered the trademark “Two Balls” (in Russia and in the world), there were no legal problems with this. In general, now you can find many abandoned brands (after all, there were no trademarks in the USSR) and, if desired, revive them. A year later, the crowdfunding project “Soviet sneakers” was launched. In total, we had to raise 720 thousand rubles, and I believed that this could be done, since the project was powerfully covered in the media. In America, out of 100 thousand people who come to the site, five thousand make an order, that is, the conversion is 5%. I thought that our conversion would be 1% and in the end the amount would be three times more than planned, because the traffic to the site was just crazy. But the conversion was only 0.02%, and “Soviet sneakers” collected 307 thousand rubles. Despite this, there were many publications and offers to invest. I realized that the idea was good, crowdfunding just doesn’t work in Russia. International experience also indicated that everything would work out: at that time there were already precedents for the restoration of iconic brands, for example, PF Flyers, popular in the 1950s in America, which was first bought by Converse and then New Balance, or the history of the Feiyue brand, or Spring Court.
I spent the next year meeting with investors: some had good conditions, but “gray” money; and for some it was the other way around - everything was fine with the money, but the conditions were unsuitable. After negotiations with about 40 investors, I turned to the CEO of GJO.E Ilya Nafeev. He liked the idea, and a year later he entered into this project.
Production
Now everyone mostly works using new technologies, since it is easier and cheaper. The main difference between the new and old technologies is how the top of the shoe is tightened onto the last. It is either sewn like a sock and put on it (this is the technology of hot boiler vulcanization), or it comes without a lower part and is attached to the block with glue. Almost all modern sneakers are made using the latter method. We wanted to revive “Two Balls” in its authentic form, and for this we needed to find factories that work with hot boiler vulcanization technology (previously it was used everywhere). I visited several Russian shoe factories and realized that it was simply impossible to do this here. Unfortunately, our industry is completely dead, no matter how hard some enthusiastic companies try to restore it.
I went to China for three weeks and came back two years later. In China, we managed to find production facilities that used the required technologies. As a result, we made new sneakers that comply with Soviet GOST standards. First of all, all molds, patterns, logos and other details were completely restored. We took the old “Two Balls” last as a basis and expanded it a little for convenience - not many people know that Russians have wider feet than Europeans. In addition, the triple layer of shock absorption was restored - the sole, the insole and the insole with instep support, like in sneakers. Previously, the insole was made of heavy foam rubber, but we use EVA. The sole also copies the previous one - we had a plaster cast, from which we made a 3D scan, then a mold. There is also a line of rubber glue left around the perimeter, which prevents the shoes from cracking on bends. The laces were made of cotton with an original weave, adding engraving to the tips. For the tag I had to make special machine, since no one makes anything like this anymore.
To assemble the sneakers, we use 12 factories in 12 different cities. So, laces are produced on one, tips for them on another, eyelets on a third. To ensure that the tips and eyelets are the same color, they are brought to the same factory and galvanized together. The tips are then sent to another province where they are engraved. Then to the next one, where they connect to the laces. And that's just one story. The insole has many more nuances, but I’m generally silent about the sole.
Of course, everything could have been done cheaper and worse, but I didn’t want to make just some sneakers with the inscription “Two balls”. In our sneakers, all the details are more complicated than they look, for example, the geometric pattern along the contour always flies off and gets dirty. In addition, they are assembled by hand, that is, all the stitching, all the logos are made not by machines, but by living people. Therefore, sometimes there are some small imperfections - for example, the letters may be slightly unevenly painted. But this is the trick of the project - to make the product individual.
Produced per day
from 300 to 500 pairs of sneakers
Sneakers are made at 12 production facilities in 12 Chinese provinces
The very first “Two Balls” model was released
in 1965
The production price is very high, but we have reduced the final price of the product as much as possible - contrary to all market rules. We plan to sell most of our products through our own online store - this will help recoup costs. Naturally, “Two Balls” will also be presented offline, for example, on July 13, our temporary corner will appear in Tsvetnoy, and later the sneakers can be found in Sneakerhead stores. Now the price range varies from 3,900 to 4,600 rubles, depending on the model. Some write: “This is very expensive! At Auchan, sneakers cost 500 rubles.” Indeed, sneakers can be made from PVC (by the way, the seventh most dangerous poison in the world) and sold for that kind of money. I have been to factories that are engaged in similar production: huge volumes, the cheapest materials - very tough. But we have a poor country, so such a product has a place.
Of course, we feel interest from the state, we even communicate with someone, but so far there have been no specific proposals. I think the authorities should pay attention national stories and help them develop. Now many enthusiasts are trying to do something, but in Russia it is difficult: small circulations, lack of fabrics and consumer interest are well-known problems. I decided to make sneakers not in Russia for many reasons. Firstly, we don't have the necessary technology. Secondly, this way the country earns more due to the fact that we give up various benefits and spend money on transportation. Of course, I am in favor of developing production here, but this should be done not by private companies, but by the state. My viable model boils down to producing in China and keeping the creative office in Russia. Russians have very good intellectual capital. After living in China for several years, I fell in love with our compatriots like never before.
We have eight models in total, but only four are currently available on the website, one of which is available in two colors. The plans are to release two collections a year at the start, and then increase momentum in order to gain a foothold not only in our market, but also in the international one. By the way, there are already requests from Europe and Japan. Perhaps new models of sneakers will appear, but not in the first years of operation. We also want to add basic clothing: T-shirts, backpacks, caps, hoodies.
I'm not afraid of competition with such powerful brands as, for example, Converse. Now we are too local to compete with them. If we talk about competition at the Russian level, then our person is closer to “Two Balls”: everyone who grew up in the USSR remembers them. But in general, if you put our sneakers and Converse side by side, then no questions arise. In addition, Soviet aesthetics have long been in fashion, they just don’t always know how to prepare it correctly. I hope that over time we will learn to do this perfectly.
Photos: provided by the press service
In the USSR, sneakers became widespread after the “Sixth World Festival of Youth and Students,” which took place in 1957.
The festival became in every sense a significant and explosive event for young people - it fell in the middle of the Khrushchev Thaw and was remembered for its openness. Foreigners who arrived communicated freely with Muscovites, and this was not persecuted. Then the first “Ked’s” came to the Soviet Union...
The domestic industry, without thinking twice, mastered the production of such shoes. Later, GOST 9155 “Rubber and rubber-textile sports footwear” appeared. Technical conditions". By the mid-1960s, the vast majority of Soviet youth were wearing sneakers. The “Czech shoes” and sandals that everyone was tired of were forgotten. The product began to be sold in the USSR in cyclopean volumes.
GOST 9155-88
The Chinese and North Korean versions of lightweight sports shoes ideally corresponded to the Soviet standard (perhaps from a political point of view).
For several decades, Vietnamese sneakers and half-sneakers were worn, which were practically no different from the American “classics” - with a high fabric top, on a white rubber sole, with white rubberized toes and circles on the sides protecting the bones of the ankles - they were very strong , but cost only a few rubles. 
Since 1968, Finns began to import sneakers - sneakers were imported under the Nokia brand, which is known today in the mobile device market. Moreover, the logo design has not undergone any changes since the 1960s. 
In the USSR, sneakers were not in short supply. In the 1960s, every schoolchild wore them. It was always possible to buy a pair at a nearby sporting goods store, so they were worn without hesitation around the clock in both winter and summer, especially since they turned out to be much more comfortable than outdated Czech shoes. 
Doctors fought against the constant wearing of sneakers in addition to sports and physical education, since it was believed that the feet in them sweat a lot. However, some managed to wear sneakers in winter, wearing them with thick woolen socks. 
In 1963, the film “Take Us with You, Tourists” was released in the USSR, in which the song “Sneakers” was performed with lyrics by Leonid Derbenev:
I want to walk all over the world in sneakers
See in person what, what is in the distance,
And you write me letters in small handwriting
Since there is not enough space in the backpack...
Ten years after the youth festival, sneakers were already so ingrained in Soviet life that they became an integral attribute of it, and every schoolchild in physical education stood in the lineup wearing them. 
In 1967, American reporter Bill Eppridge came to the country and filmed the famous Soviet Youth report here, and the photographs show that most Soviet youth are already wearing sneakers.
Photos of Bill Eppridge from a Soviet Youth report, 1967: 
In 1979, in the novel “It’s Me, Eddie,” Eduard Limonov calls them in his own way “snickers” and in this form gives them a place in Soviet literature. And Viktor Tsoi, who also fell in love with Snickers, rooted them in the country’s musical culture. 
Sneakers also penetrated into Soviet cinema - the android boy Elektronik, the adventurers Petrov and Vasechkin, Sharik from “Prostokvashino” and the broken cartoon Wolf from “Well, wait a minute!” - they all portrayed not polished film images, but ordinary guys in sneakers. 
1. Syroezhkin in sneakers. 2. Ball from “Prostokvashino”. Instead of useful household items, I bought myself sneakers and a photo gun. 3. The wolf from “Well, wait a minute!” 4. Viktor Tsoi in sneakers. 5. Schoolchildren in physical education. 6. Classic Soviet sports bow. 7. The owners of “Two Balls” did not part with them even on the beach. 8. Boys in the camp. 9. A boy in Chinese “Two Balls” sneakers flirts with a girl in less prestigious Lithuanian Inkaras Kaunas sneakers. 10. Outdoor sneakers. 11. The guys are playing streetball. 
Soviet sneakers had a sole in light or red shades with a clearly marked seam, turning into a textile upper, usually blue or black. 
The laces were most often white and had metal tips. Most Soviet models had protective round stripes, stylized as a ball, on the inside of the ankle area. 
The “Two Balls” sneakers were considered especially chic. They were produced in China and, strange as it may sound today, they were of the highest quality. They were more difficult to obtain, and the colors and designs were different from common models, which made them a cult item. 
Sneakers of blue color featured a more durable green sole and white trim, toe and laces. On the inside, in the area of the bone, there was a round emblem with two balls - a football and a basketball. 
The most prized item was the all-white Two Ball sneakers. They cost four rubles, while the similar Chinese Warrior and Vietnamese Forward cost three. 
Today we will talk about such popular shoes as sneakers. A century ago, this item of clothing was only for athletes, and wearing it for a walk seemed something strange. However Now everything has changed, and sneakers have firmly entered our daily lives.
Today it is a symbol of freedom of thought, subcultures and youth in general. Famous athletes, musicians, actors and just good people regularly appear in sneakers on catwalks and concerts.
This shows that these shoes not only have not lost their relevance, but continue to gain popularity. Indeed, today sneakers are not only an everyday style, but also a luxury item.
Both Louboutin and Gucci produce exclusive collections. But in 2007, rapper Big Boi broke all imaginable and unimaginable records. He ordered unique sneakers from the Laced Up company, costing 50 thousand dollars. But let's not focus on the whims of the rich. Let's dwell on history. Where did they come from? Why did they become so popular? And how they got behind the Iron Curtain.
The first prototypes of these shoes began to be produced in the middle of the 19th century and were ordinary walking shoes.
The history of these shoes goes back a long way, all the way back to 1892, where several mediocre factories merged to form the U.S. Rubber Company. This association will soon include Goodyear. She was primarily involved in the production unusual item clothes with a rag top and rubber soles.
Interesting! Initially, the Goodyear product had a name - peds, but because... a similar brand already existed, it had to be replaced with kid because the manufacturer was focused primarily on a young audience.
A flurry of popularity occurred after American Marcus Converse released the first ever batch of shoes intended exclusively for basketball players. Soon, as the popularity of basketball grew, the popularity of shoes also grew, which ensured their sales for many years.
In the 1950s-1960s, the popularity of sneakers was so high that it even penetrated into the Soviet Union, which was a real miracle during the Cold War. Soviet industry, not wanting to give in to insidious capitalism, launched the production of its own sneakers, namely GOST 9155-88, which meant “Sports footwear, rubber and rubber-textile.”
Needless to say, in addition to athletes, new shoes fashionistas and free-thinking youth immediately rushed in. Sneakers became so popular in the Soviet Union that they attracted the manufacturing power of China to their side. This is how the “Two Balls” sneakers appeared.
Production of “two ball” sneakers in the USSR
New Chinese-made shoes were distinguished by amazing style and quality for that time. Appearing on the shelves in the sixties, they instantly won the love of young people throughout the Union.
Progressive fashionistas quickly made these shoes one of the most recognizable items of the time., along with the Smena camera and tea with an elephant.
These sneakers became so deeply integrated into the life and culture of Soviet people that they firmly became a symbol of youth.
Film "Adventures of Electronics"
Remember, for example, the magnificent Soviet film “Adventures of Electronics”, and the cartoon “Well, wait a minute!”
Sneakers: cartoon “Well, wait a minute!”
What did the Wolf wear there, of course, Soviet sneakers.
Sharik's sneakers: cartoon “From Prostokvashino”
And Ball from Prostokvashino from the famous cartoon glows in the frame in these shoes.
Also Viktor Tsoi and Yegor Letov regularly appeared in them and other progressive thinkers. The owners of the treasured sneakers did not part with them for a second. It even reached the point of absurdity, because fashionable youth At that time, I even came to the beach in these shoes! Although such a piece of clothing with swimming trunks is a dubious combination, few people cared, the main thing was that it had the coveted emblem: “Two balls.”
Speaking of the name, why were the sneakers called “Two Balls”? The answer is very simple. The emblem itself depicts two balls: a football and a basketball. This symbolizes the widespread use of these shoes and their versatility. In addition, young and free-thinking people found a deeper message in this, about two hemispheres, namely the comprehensive development and freedom of thought.
Reference! A reporter from America, Bill Eppridge, who came to the USSR back in 1967, could not help but notice that all the youth of that time were wearing sneakers. The American was very surprised to see classic American shoes in a communist country.
The “Two Balls” sneakers differed from the rest in their bright colors and abundance of palette on the shelves. A red sole with a seam that runs into a fabric upper in blue, green or black. The white laces had a metal tip.
On the inside there was a white emblem in the form of two balls: a football and a basketball. Such a unique style with a clear “leaning” towards the West made this item of clothing extremely popular, and did not leave the slightest chance of competition with other products of Soviet industry.
Interesting! The rarest and most expensive at that time were full-length sneakers white. It was believed that they were much more wear-resistant than colored ones, although, of course, this was just a myth.
Sneakers in the Soviet Union were not just casual shoes. It was a symbol of progressive youth and freedom of thought. They were worn not only for style and fashion. It was a protest in the truest sense of the word. It’s not for nothing that Viktor Tsoi performed in them more than once. And he, as the voice of the youth of that time, perfectly felt and knew what was happening among his listeners.
IN THE USSR sneakers became widespread after the “Sixth World Festival of Youth and Students”, which took place in 1957. The festival became in every sense a significant and explosive event for young people - it fell in the middle of the Khrushchev Thaw and was remembered for its openness. Foreigners who arrived communicated freely with Muscovites, and this was not persecuted. Then the first “Ked’s” came to the Soviet Union...
The domestic industry, without thinking twice, mastered the production of such shoes. Later, GOST 9155 “Rubber and rubber-textile sports footwear” appeared. Technical conditions".
By the mid-1960s, the vast majority of Soviet youth were wearing sneakers. The “Czech shoes” and sandals that everyone was tired of were forgotten. The product began to be sold in the USSR in cyclopean volumes.
GOST 9155-88
The Chinese and North Korean versions of lightweight sports shoes ideally corresponded to the Soviet standard (perhaps from a political point of view).
For several decades, Vietnamese sneakers and half-sneakers were worn, which were practically no different from the American “classics” - with a high fabric top, on a white rubber sole, with white rubberized toes and circles on the sides protecting the ankle bones - they were very strong , but cost only a few rubles.
Since 1968, Finns also began to import sneakers—sneakers were imported under the Nokia brand, which is known today in the mobile device market. Moreover, the logo design has not undergone any changes since the 1960s.
In the USSR, sneakers were not in short supply. In the 1960s, every schoolchild wore them. It was always possible to buy a pair at a nearby sporting goods store, so they were worn without hesitation around the clock in both winter and summer, especially since they turned out to be much more comfortable than outdated Czech shoes.
Doctors fought against the constant wearing of sneakers in addition to sports and physical education, since it was believed that the feet in them sweat a lot. However, some managed to wear sneakers in winter, wearing them with thick woolen socks.
In 1963, the film “Take Us with You, Tourists” was released in the USSR, in which the song “Sneakers” was performed with lyrics by Leonid Derbenev:
I want to walk all over the world in sneakers
See in person what, what is in the distance,
And you write me letters in small handwriting
Since there is not enough space in the backpack…
Ten years after the youth festival, sneakers were already so ingrained in Soviet life that they became an integral attribute of it, and every schoolchild in physical education stood in the lineup wearing them.
In 1967, American reporter Bill Eppridge came to the country and filmed the famous Soviet Youth report here, and the photographs show that most Soviet youth are already wearing sneakers.
Photos of Bill Eppridge from a Soviet Youth report, 1967:
In 1979, in the novel “It’s Me, Eddie,” Eduard Limonov calls them in his own way “snickers” and in this form gives them a place in Soviet literature. And Viktor Tsoi, who also fell in love with Snickers, rooted them in the country’s musical culture.
Sneakers also penetrated into Soviet cinema - the android boy Elektronik, the adventurers Petrov and Vasechkin, Sharik from Prostokvashino and the broken cartoon Wolf from Well, Just Wait! - all of them portrayed not polished film images, but ordinary guys in sneakers.
1. Syroezhkin in sneakers. 2. Ball from “Prostokvashino”. Instead of useful household items, I bought myself sneakers and a photo gun. 3. The wolf from “Well, wait a minute!” 4. Viktor Tsoi in sneakers. 5. Schoolchildren in physical education. 6. Classic Soviet sports bow. 7. The owners of “Two Balls” did not part with them even on the beach. 8. Boys in the camp. 9. A boy in Chinese “Two Balls” sneakers flirts with a girl in less prestigious Lithuanian Inkaras Kaunas sneakers. 10. Outdoor sneakers. 11. The guys are playing streetball.
Soviet sneakers had a sole in light or red shades with a clearly marked seam, turning into a textile upper, usually blue or black.
The laces were most often white and had metal tips. Most Soviet models had protective round stripes, stylized as a ball, on the inside of the ankle area.
The “Two Balls” sneakers were considered especially chic. They were produced in China and, strange as it may sound today, they were of the highest quality. They were more difficult to obtain, and the colors and designs were different from common models, which made them a cult item.
The blue sneakers featured a more durable green sole and white trim, toe, and laces. On the inside, in the area of the bone, there was a round emblem with two balls - a football and a basketball.
The most prized item was the all-white Two Ball sneakers. They cost four rubles, while the similar Chinese Warrior and Vietnamese Forward cost three.