Chuck Taylor All-Stars

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Chuck Taylor All-Star
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Chuck Taylor All-Star
Miscellaneous All-Stars
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Miscellaneous All-Stars

Chuck Taylor All-Stars are canvas and rubber shoes produced by Converse. They were first produced in 1917 as the "All-Star", Converse's attempt to capture the basketball shoe market. They were not particularly popular until basketball player Chuck Taylor adopted them as his preferred shoe. He was so impressed with the design that he became the shoe's leading salesman. After proposing a few changes to the shoe, the shoe got its current name and Chuck Taylor's signature on its ankle patch.

Consumers demanded more color and variety from the shoe, as well as more colors in order to match basketball teams, so colored and patterned shoelaces became popular to complement the two colors, black and white, available before 1966. Afterwards, more colors became available as did styles. A low-top or "Oxford" and high-top versions, and later knee-high versions were produced. More materials were offered for the construction, including leather, suede, vinyl, denim, and hemp. Some versions of the shoe were offered that were without laces, and held up by elastic. These new versions of the shoe were also co-designed by Chuck Taylor, shortly before his death in 1969.

After Converse was bought by Nike and operations were moved from the United States to overseas, the design has had a few alterations. The fabric is no longer 2-ply cotton canvas but 1-ply "textile" and many wearers have noticed different patterns of wear.

Wearers of All-Stars admire the individuality of the distinctive colors, design, and sole of the shoe. They are available in several core colors, seasonal colors, and a variety of print styles. Fans of punk rock have adopted the shoe as a fashion trend since the late-1970s and many popular punk rock bands, e.g. the Ramones, have supported the trend by wearing the sneakers. All-Stars became popular again in the 90's grunge and hip hop cultures, especially in the early nineties days of G-funk and gangsta rap. There has been a recent re-adoption of them in modern hip hop culture.

Contents

[edit] Trivia

  • A full biography of Chuck Taylor was published by Indiana University Press in March 2006 under the title Chuck Taylor, All Star: The True Story of the Man Behind the Most Famous Athletic Shoe in History, with Foreword by Dean Smith.
  • Also referred to as "Converse All Stars", "Cons", "Connies", "Chuckers", "Chucks", "Chuckie T's", "Converse," "All-Stars," "High-Tops", and "Chucker Boots" for the higher styles. [citation needed]
  • At the Converse website, you can actually design your own Chuck Taylors and get them sent to you, or just to have plain old fun with them. Features include different colours, writing on them (heel stripe or outside low rear), shoelaces and body colours.
  • The Guinness Book of World Records states that as of August 23, 2006, the world's largest collection of Converse Shoes is held by Joshua Mueller of Lakewood, WA (USA) consisting of 403 unique pairs. Converse All-Stars make up the bulk of the collection.

[edit] Core colors

  • All-Black (Black Monochrome)
  • Black & White
  • Optical White
  • Natural White
  • Kelly Green
  • Royal Blue
  • Navy Blue
  • Maroon
  • Scarlet
  • Pink (different shades depends on material)
  • Gizmo Green
  • Thunder Grey
  • Red
  • Brown
  • Wheat
  • Lime

[edit] Popularity

Despite the major setbacks for Converse in recent times, the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star is the most successful shoe in history, and has enjoyed recent popularity thanks to a resurgence of old skool trends. By the turn of the 21st century, over 750 million pairs have been sold worldwide. They no longer seem to be worn by their original target market of basketballers (at least not in the professional sphere), but instead they are now marketed to the mainstream teenager. Some are so enthusiastic about the sneakers that they have a vast, ever-growing collection. They are also quite influential in pop-culture; Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars have been popular for decades in the American punk and indie rock scenes, and Hollywood has popularized Chucks in countless motion pictures.

Since the turn of the century, especially the last 2 years, Converse have become increasingly popular, with a growing market. Originally seen as being worn by those in to a rock music scene, the market is growing to various, younger scenes, whether it be based on a sub-culture (rock still being popular, especially with the growing emo scene) the Chuck Taylors are becoming more popular with alternative rock scenes and pop music scene or even just fashion. Many Chuck Taylor owners are those who have owned the shoes in the past, and most own more than one pair, as recently many more colors are now produced than before.

[edit] Chuck Taylors And Fashion

Chuck Taylors are now highly popular and are worn by more scenes as before so are used in various fashions. In 2006, many highstreet shops (especially in the UK) are selling Chuck Taylors or cheaper copies, Both of which are hugely popular. The increase in colours has also led to the market growing. Because of this, Chuck Taylors are becoming fashionable, as many prefer the bigger variety of colours (with Black, Pink and Red seeming most popular). The fashions between groups varies as well. For example Rock scenes tend to contain more darker, original colors whereas alternative/indie scenes prefer white or khaki Chucks. It is also becoming common for people to draw on their Chuck-Taylors (usually on the white rubber parts and often one's favorite band or their name). Another fashion becoming common (especially with teenage girls) is the wearing of odd laces in Chuck Taylors or odd Chuck Taylors altogether (usually someone wearing different chucks from a collection or swapping one chuck with a friend). The Popular fashion around the UK recently has been the wearing of Chucks (largely the standard ankle high Chucks) with drainpipe or reasonly tight jeans with tight T-shirts (with many scenes and groups) and is a fashion being adopted by more and more groups.

[edit] Controversy

Although Chuck Taylors are, along with Dr. Martens, still closely associated with punk fashion, punks have been the target of criticism for wearing a shoe that is ultimately manufactured by Nike, a capitalist corporation that is widely known to produce their shoes in third-world sweatshops. Because of Nike's practices, wearing Converse shoes is at odds with punk's general association with left-wing politics, particularly anarchism and some forms of revolutionary socialism. This criticism has also come from within, from punks such as Mitch Clem.[1] Many punks now wear sweatshop-free imitations, such as those made by the Blackspot Anticorporation or No Sweat Apparel, so as to avoid such an ideological conflict.

[edit] References in popular culture

[edit] Television

[edit] Film

[edit] Music

[edit] Video games

[edit] Comic books

  • In Sin City the character Dwight wears a pair of red Chuck Taylors, and Kevin is seen to be wearing a black pair.
  • Boy Blue from Fables wears Chuck Taylors.

[edit] Computing

  • The BSD Daemon is commonly depicted wearing a pair of Converse shoes, particularly in the versions used by FreeBSD.


[edit] External link

Nike, Inc.

Corporate Directors: John G. Connors | Jill Conway | Alan Graf | Douglas Houser | Jeanne Jackson | Phil Knight | Orin Smith | John Thompson

Assets & Products: Air Jordan | Bauer | Cole Haan | Converse | Exeter Brands Group | Hurley International | Nike Air Max | Nike Free | Nike Golf | Swoosh | Team Starter

Annual Revenue: $13.7 billion USD (12% FY 2004) | Employees: 26,500 | Stock Symbol: NYSE: NKE | Website: www.nike.com
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