Converse All-Star: A History
A History of The Converse All-Star
Remember the fantastic Converse All-Stars in your wardrobe? Not just a set of trainers (or sneakers) right?
Reading this now, you can probably afford a pair, and buy any colour you want. However, for many generations, the Converse All-Star was an aspirational product that crossed fashion divides. Whether you were a skater, sporty, emo or hipster, the All-Star was loved by all and at its peak, was the definition of cool.
From the first styles to the latest model, from the early days to the peak of success, our walk into the history and style of this masterpiece will include everything that you need to know about the Converse All-Star. In our continuing series, Where Sport meets Fashion, we check out, The Converse All-Star.
Converse All-Star’s - Classic, ground breaking and still cool.
The Early Days and Successes of Converse
After the formation of Converse Rubber Shoe Company in 1908, in Massachusetts, by Marquis Mills, the enterprise introduced its first basketball shoe in 1917. The forerunner of the modern Converse All-Star Shoe or Chuck Taylor All-Star.
The name Chuck Taylor All-Star came into being when Chuck Taylor, an American semi-professional basketball player joined the Converse Rubber Shoe Company and was advised to change the design.
On the advice of Chuck Taylor, the company introduced a new design of The Converse All-Star in 1923. This design improved flexibility and ankle movement.
The restyled version also included Chuck Taylor’s signature in the all-star logo, on the small circular ankle patch of the product. After this, the Converse All-Star became the first-ever celebrity-endorsed athletic shoe in history.
Almost all the major basketball players started to wear the Converse All-Star. It was THE go-to shoe for playing basketball.
Gaining popularity through the 50s and 60s
In the 1950s, the popularity of the Converse All-Star knew no bounds. It became the choice of every college or professional basketball player across the United States. Even the troops started to wear Converse All-Stars.
By the 1960s, the company had secured almost 60 to 80 per cent of the whole basketball shoe market.
In the coming years, Converse All-Stars became the most famous shoes in the world and played a headline role in most of the athletic shoe trends. However, in the 1970s, the company started to face financial crises due to some bad business decisions and management.
The shoe lost its popularity among famous basketball players and faced a pretty hard set back.
The Rise of The Converse All-Star
The style shift of Converse All-Stars from being just basketball shoes originally, to retro-casual footwear in the 1980s and 1990s was apparent especially amongst musicians across all genres of music.
The Converse All-Star gained massive popularity among various subcultures and did not tie itself to a certain demographic, always remaining a neutral yet popular brand.
“During an 80 year period, Converse had sold more than 600 million pairs of Converse All-Stars by the year 2000.”
Things changed when Nike acquired the whole company in 2003, for an estimated 305 million dollars. Since then, Nike has been selling the Converse All-Star alongside other shoe products, but out of the sports sector completely, and as a fashion item first and foremost.
Nike of course, are still involved in the sporting side of footwear design and production, notably with their Air Jordan products, but they also focus on fashionwear with models such as the Nike Air Force 1.
The Style History of Converse All-Stars
Originally the Converse All-Star was designed in three major styles:
● Monochromatic style shoes with black canvas upper and soles made up of black rubber.
● An All White style having red and blue colour trim and a high top
● Rubber shoe of black leather
The early style after the revision, according to Chuck Taylor, an all-star circular logo on the ankle patch of the shoe, having Chuck Taylor's signature on it. The revised model of Converse All-Star is pretty much the main style, present till the current date.
The Iconic Black and White Converse All-Star
This iconic style consisted of a black canvas shoe with white laces, toe guard, and the outer wraps and made its debut in 1949.
This led to the production of multiple styled and coloured fabric All-Stars.
Now, the Company makes all kinds of All-Stars with different fabrics, colours, styles, etc. The high-cut designs of Converse All-Stars are the only Converse All-Stars that display an All-Star logo on the heel side of the shoe.
Converse All Star and 1970s
In the 1970s, the style shift from athletic sport shoes to casual retro-style shoes happened. The consequence of this style shift was the iconic Chuck Taylor All Star'70; these shoes brought back the life to the popularity of the Converse All-Star till the present day
Some All-Star low tops
Chuck Taylor All Star’70 and The Old Designs
Some of the main differences in the Chuck Taylor All-Star’70 from old models were:
● Thicker cushioning along with the high rubber sole and the thicker canvas was introduced.
● The size of the toe cap was reduced and the extra material on the sides of the shoe.
● A black heel patch was used on the modern version.
Chuck Taylor All-Star: The Latest Style
The modern style of Converse All-Star is mainly the same with modifications in the material used and a variety of colours, styles, and fabrics.
Customizable Converse All-Stars are also offered by the Company, by which you can create your design online, with minimal fuss and maximum output.
In 2015, a new revised edition of Chuck Taylor All-Star ’70 was introduced by the company. The new model differed in the thickening of the canvas, and hard rubber midsole and a lighter-weight design was introduced. Following this, a series of different versions came out.
