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So we did the world a favor and destroyed it.
Sometime in 1908, Marquis Mills Converse decided to start a rubber shoe company, bypassing a rubber trust that prevented most companies from doing business directly with their retailers. Early catalogs bragged about how many trucks left the Converse factory in Malden, Massachusetts, delivering product directly to stores in Boston. Mr. Converse’s idea worked. But more importantly, it survived.
In 1913, Converse produced a catalogue with the following words: "Our company was organized in 1908 fully believing that there was an earnest demand from the retail shoe dealer for a rubber shoe company that would be independent enough not to follow every other company in everything they do." Those words would prove prophetic. From the beginning Converse was always a brand for those independent enough not to follow and so the young company took up with a young sport, Basketball. Converse also made tires but the basketball shoes gained more traction both on the courts and in the streets.
Chuck Taylor joins the Converse Rubber Company. How it happened remains lost to history, but the reason isn’t: Chuck Taylor loved basketball and desired nothing so much as to spread of the word of the new game and sell the shoes it required. By this point, the Converse All Star shoe had been introduced and featured the distinctive diamond pattern sole.
By the time he lent his name to his signature badminton shoe in 1935, Jack Purcell had won five consecutive Canadian championships and been declared the world badminton champion. The Converse Jack Purcell shoe retains the legacy of its namesake and the feel of his sport.
World War II provided Converse with a singular opportunity. Many products destined for servicemen overseas now became a focus of Converse manufacturing. The product range included Converse footwear, apparel, boots for pilots and army servicemen, parkas, rubber protective suits and ponchos.
Enter Rock & Roll. It was loud, lewd, filthy and everything everyone who feared it said it was. It was also a movement in search of a uniform: It found the leather jacket, the blue jean and the high top shoe. Interestingly enough, right about this time, high tops were around for the birth of something else: The National Basketball Association.
A decade of change for everybody. Rock & Roll and pro basketball grew up wearing Chuck Taylors (Chucks) and All Stars finally came in different colours. In tumultuous times, legends are born – and from a green and white basketball team to a British invasion, from rooftops to alfalfa fields, Converse was along for the ride.
Around 1974, the Converse All Star shoe got a little bit of a makeover. Remade in colourful suede with a big, bold star on the side, it was built for basketball-but there was something about its brashness and brightness that would make it irresistible to a generation of rockers, skaters and rebellious souls. Then around 1976 came the Converse Pro Leather, an instant favorite in a time when the game needed a vibe.
An immediate on-court favorite, the Converse Weapon became a shoe universally favoured by professional, college and high school teams throughout the 1980s and ’90s. In 1986, Converse launched the “Choose Your Weapon” ad campaign, featuring two of the game’s biggest rivals wearing one of the game’s biggest shoes. Over 20 years later, the legacy of Weapon – and its place in sport and culture – continues to challenge the competition.
In 1996, Converse had a hit on its hands with a basketball shoe called the All Star 2000. It was the first attempt at replicating the Chuck Taylor All Star shoe for contemporary competition and there was something about its ankle patch, red midsole stripe and no-nonsense approach to the game that at least 1 million people couldn’t resist.
Converse enters its second century by honouring its heritage of seeing things a little differently, loving people who want to change the world for the better and basically celebrating the spirit of rebellion and originality in basketball, Rock & Roll and anywhere else you find it.
And there you have it, the history of Converse – for now… The best stories are the ones that don’t end. The ones you just keep adding to and adding to, all the while marveling at the creative, disruptive, optimistic, courageous ways things evolve from being what they were, to what they are, to what they will become.
Converse gets personal, a customised Chuck Taylor is now becoming every Converse wearer’s favourite. From customising in your backyard to professional customisation, Converse wearers own their shoes. Converse continues to celebrate creativity and all life’s experiences through the Well Worn, Pro Leather, and Skate range. Every memory is well recorded though specks of sand, a scuff mark or two, a scar here and a scar there; the Well Worn range is about telling these stories. Converse is now no longer about just serving a functional purpose, but also about expressing views and opinion, finding identity and re-living life’s best moments through footwear and apparel.
And there you have it, the history of Converse – for now… The best stories are the ones that don’t end. The ones you just keep adding to and adding to, all the while marvelling at the creative, disruptive, optimistic, courageous ways things evolve from being what they were, to what they are, to what they will become.
