Converse Chuck Taylor All Star
The brand
At age 47, Marquis Mills Converse, who was previously a manager at a footwear manufacturing firm, opened the Converse Rubber Shoe Company in February 1908 in Malden, Massachusetts. The company was a rubber shoe manufacturer, providing winterized rubber soled footwear for men, women, and children.
Although the Converse All Star was in production from 1917, they didn't get their iconic name until 1923. When basketball player, Charles 'Chuck' Taylor entered their store complaining of sore feet, he was offered a job as a salesman and ambassador for the brand.
In 1932, as a way of appreciated and recognition of his hard work, they printed Taylor's name on the ankle patch of the shoe, creating the Converse logo history. This created the Chuck Taylor shoe that took over the footwear industry forever.
In 1936, the white high-top Chuck Taylor was designed for the Olympics and the signature red and blue stripes were introduced along the sole. This style was so popular that they stuck with the design.
By 1957, Converse held a huge 80% of shares of the whole sneaker industry. It was one of the few producers of athletic shoes and for over a half-century, the company dominated the American court shoe market. From the 1970s, the company lost its dominant position as competitors presented their own styles.
In July 2003, Nike bought Converse, and approached the 1980s revival around 2010 to relaunch the footwear. Nike also expanded the Converse brand to other businesses apart from shoes, more like to its other brands.
In 2013, Converse launched the Chuck Taylor All Star '70, which featured a build similar to the All Stars used for basketball that were built in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
On July 28, 2015, Converse released the Chuck Taylor All Star II. This shoe differed from the standard, modern version of the Chuck Taylor All Star in several ways, due to various changes that happened to the All Star shoes over the intervening decades.
Collaborations
Converse has always been open to brand collaborations which reach out to further customers and gives their loyal fans a chance to get their hands on limited editions of their classic silhouettes. Notable collaborations include the Comme Des Garçons, Miley Cyrus, Coca-Cola, Hello Kitty and beloved Disney characters such as Frozen and Mickey Mouse.
The future
Converse Renew is a sustainability initiative tasked with providing creative solutions to excess product. Over three quarters of that 8.3 billion tons has become post-consumer waste, contributing to a worrying world in which ocean levels rise and we have to ditch sneakers for gumboots. And to halter this glib future of shapeless, slug-like footwear, Converse Renew is introducing three processes that recycle cotton canvas, upcycle textiles, and recycle PET into new sneakers. To start, they’re tackling one of the best-selling sneakers on earth, the Chuck Taylor All Star.
