Converse, (pronounced kŏn'vûrs), is an American shoe company which has been making shoes since the early 20th century. Currently, Converse also produces a wide range of occupational safety shoes that resemble their regular athletic shoes.

History

1908–1941: The Early Days and Chuck Taylor

In his late 30's, Marquis M. Converse, who was previously a respected manager at a footwear manufacturing firm opened the Converse Rubber Shoe Company (also known as the Boston Rubber Shoe Company) in Malden, Massachusetts in 1908. The company was a rubber shoe manufacturer, providing winterized rubber soled footwear for men, women, and children. By 1910, Converse was producing 4,000 shoes daily, but it wasn't until 1915 that the company began manufacturing athletic shoes for tennis. The company's main turning point came in 1917 when the Converse All-Star basketball shoe was introduced. This was a real innovation at the time, considering the sport was only 25 years old. Then in 1921, a basketball player named Charles H. "Chuck" Taylor walked into Converse complaining of sore feet. Converse gave him a job. He worked as a salesman and ambassador, promoting the shoes around the United States, and in 1923 after publishing a retrospective on the first 60 years of basketball and teaching his first basketball clinic at North Carolina State University, his signature was added to the All Star patch. He tirelessly continued this work until shortly before his death in 1969. Converse also customized shoes for the New York Renaissance (the "Rens"), basketball's first all African American pro basketball team; the "Rens" pioneered a whole new method of playing and won a remarkable 2,588 games with only 539 losses.

1941–Present: War, Bankruptcy, and New Management

When America entered World War II in 1941, Converse shifted production to manufacturing footwear, apparel, boots, parkas, rubber protective suits, and ponchos for pilots and troops. Wildly popular during the 1970s and early 1980s, Converse lost some of its popularity and apparent monopoly during the mid-1980s and much of the 1990s, with the surge of new competitors such as Nike, Adidas and Reebok who introduced radical new designs to the market. Converse found themselves to be no longer the official shoe of the National Basketball Association, a title they had enjoyed for many, many years. This loss of market share, combined with poor business decisions forced Converse to file for bankruptcy on January 22, 2001. When the company subsequently changed hands that year, the last factory in the United States was closed. Thereafter, manufacturing for the American market was no longer performed in the United States, but instead in a number of Asian countries, including China, Indonesia and Vietnam.

On July 9, 2003, the company accepted a $305 million purchase offer from rival Nike.

Style

From Rubber to an "All-Star"

The Converse Shoe Company started as a rubber shoe company. The company then made a tennis shoe which grew in popularity. In 1917 the All-Star came into production, and after Chuck Taylor signed on they where referred to as the "Chuck Taylor" All Star basketball shoe. In 1966 Converse started adding color choices to the basic red and white Chuck Taylor All Star basketball shoe.

Chuck Taylor All Star basketball shoe

Also referred to as "Cons","Connies", "Chuckers", "Chucks"' or "Chucker Boots" for the higher styles, for decades the Chuck Taylor All Star basketball shoe only came in black or white. Under pressure from basketball teams it was decided in 1966 to manufacture other colors. Different materials started to appear also, such as leather, suede and vinyl, and even hemp, rather than just canvas. A low-top or "Oxford" and high-top versions, and later knee-high versions were produced. 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. The original Chucks design had a tongue that always goes to the side when you walk and becomes very uncomfortable. The solution to this problem is to cut off the tongue.

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.

Endorsements and References in Popular Culture

Converse currently has Kyle Korver, Udonis Haslem, Andre Miller, Mike Sweetney, Jameer Nelson, Kirk Hinrich, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade as endorsers in the NBA. Among former endorsers is Dennis Rodman, Rodney Rogers, Latrell Sprewell, Larry "Grandmama" Johnson, Kevin Johnson, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Bobby Phills, Jalen Rose, Jason Terry, Ron Artest, and Ben Wallace.

In the early 1980s, Converse had an ad campaign for the Chuck Taylors, featuring Larry Bird, Julius Erving and Magic Johnson, who commented "They're everywhere!" on the commercials.
Rapper Snoop Dogg makes references to "Chucks" in his songs. From rapper WC, "Steppin' out the Navigator with braids and Chuck Taylors" - Cheddar
A pair of black Converse All Stars were Kurt Cobain's only pair of shoes.
In the 1985 film Back to the Future, a close-up camera shot reveals Michael J. Fox's character Marty McFly to be wearing Chuck Taylors.
In the British sci-fi series Doctor Who, the signature costume of the Tenth reincarnation of the Doctor includes a pair of cream, black or red Chuck Taylor All Stars.
In the original Saved by the Bell series, Samuel "Screech" Powers (Dustin Diamond) is seen most of the time wearing red hi-top Chucks, Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) sports white lo-cut Jack Purcells and white hi-top leather Cons, A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez) occasionally wears Converse wrestling shoes, and Jessica "Jessie" Myrtle Spano (Elizabeth Berkley) has white hi-top Chucks.
Most of the boys in The Wonder Years wear white or black Chuck Taylors throughout most of the series.
Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves wear white and black hi-top Chuck Taylors, respectively, in 1989's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
In Sin City the character Dwight wears a pair of red Chuck Taylors, and Kevin is seen to be wearing a black pair.
In the first (1976) Rocky film when Rocky starts to run on Philadelphia morning he wears Chuck Taylors.
The BSD Daemon is commonly depicted wearing a pair of Converse shoes, particularly in the versions used by FreeBSD.
A slightly futuristic pair of Black Chucks are featured in I, Robot worn by Will Smith, who played the main character, Detective Spooner.
Black lo-cut Chucks are worn by Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) in The Fast And The Furious.
Wilt from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends appears to wear a black pair of chucks.
In the film The Last Dragon, Sho'nuff, the Shogun of Harlem exhorts Leroy Green to "Kiss my Converse!".
Capt. H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock, a character played by the actor Dwight Schultz in the cult 80s TV series The A-Team wears Converse All Stars.
Johnny Napalm from Guitar Hero appears to be wearing a black pair of Chuck Taylors.
A pair of black and white All Stars is worn by Ian McShane in the British television series Lovejoy.
In the movie Grease, each member of Danny's basketball team, as well as Coach Calhoun (Sid Caesar), is wearing black or white hi-top Chuck Taylors.
Father Grigori from Half-Life 2 wears a pair of red hi-top All Stars.
Rapper The Game goes by the alias Chuck Taylor.
Thai martial artist Tony Jaa (Panom Ueerum) wears Chuck Taylors in the film The Protector.
Jack's Mannequin singer Andrew McMahon references them in the song Bruised.
In the Arctic Monkeys song A Certain Romance "knackered Converse" are mentioned, referenced to typical youth culture today.
Stuart Little sports a pair of red converses in both movies.
The boy on the cover of the Bad Religion album Suffer is wearing a pair of red Converse shoes
In the 2003 horror film Wrong Turn, one of the mutants has a pair of red chucks on.
Yuma Tonami, a character from ToHeart2, is often seen wearing shoes that closely resemble a pair of pink Chuck Taylors.
In the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai Saga of Dragon Ball, Ranfan (one of the contestants) wears a pair of red Converse shoes.
In the 1979 Film The Warriors, most of the gangs are seen wearing pairs of Converse.
In the Street Fighter Alpha series of games, both the characters Sakura and Guy wear red Converse.
In Final Fantasy: Advent Children Tifa Lockheart wears a pair of black chucks.
In the film Before Sunrise, Ethan Hawke's character wears a pair of Converse throughout
In the Adam Sandler film Click, Morty (played by Christopher Walken) wears a pair of black high-tops.
In the show MythBusters, Jamie Hyneman can usually be seen wearing a pair of red high-tops.

During the early 80s Woodlesford Mayor and Royds alumni Justin Slee claimed sole UK distribution rights. He introduced Converse products to the fashion elite of Rothwell who saw beyond his unkempt appearance and took him under their wing. Slee remains in Woodlesford having lost the rights to Leigh Wilson in a round of "turnovers" in the Hare and Hounds public house in 1994. He eeks out a living photographing semi celebrities eating crisps. Wilson forgot he had won them and the rights have remained unclaimed since.

The Converse Logo.
Company type	Public corporation
Industry	sporting goods
Founded	1908
Headquarters	Malden, Massachusetts
Key people	Marquis M. Converse, Founder
Products	Athletic shoes, apparel
Website	www.converse.com

Converse (brand)