In 1917 Marquis M. Converse must have been awfully chuffed when basketball star, Charles H. Taylor, or ‘Chuck’, walked into his shoe store – Converse Rubber Shoe Company – and complained about sore feet. Chuck was given a job as an ambassador for the company, enthusiastically promoting Converse shoes around the United States. He did this until he died in 1969. There’s nothing to get sales up like a star sporting the shoe and Converse’s ‘Red Chuck Taylor’ shoe has become iconic for the brand – the traditional red canvas takkie.
Somewhere in between 1917 and 2009 the shoe become widely popular amongst the alternative crowd. Your Nirvana-grunge-rock-out uniform is incomplete without All Stars. While such artistic individuals pride themselves on their ‘alternative’ appearance, deviating from ‘jock’ brands, it appears that some Converse-lovers are guilty of simply conforming to another sub-culture. In some instances (generally a huddle of grade ten ‘emos’ standing outside Doors Night Club, wondering whose fake ID will do the job) I equate the flock of Converse pairs with the ‘jock’ mandatory Lacoste.
Granted, the shoe is comfortable. Granted, the shoe’s look is a classic. Not granted, the shoe’s a substitute for limited music knowledge and ticket to Indie-rock moshing.
Despite the popularity of the ‘Chuck Taylor’ model, Converse has re-vamped, coming out with a few striking styles, such as ‘The Weapon’ and later, ‘The Loaded Weapon’. It’s sad that these show little resemblance to the time-less original, but fortunately Converse still manufactures ‘Chuck Taylor’ and is likely to do so for a while.
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