Converse

60% of all Americans own or have previously owned at least one pair of Converse trainers in their life!

It was in 1908 that the Converse Rubber Corporation began its business. With the popularity of basketball on the rise, the Converse Corporation saw the real need to develop a shoe that people could wear whilst playing basketball. After lots of research and development, the very first version of the All Star basketball shoe was produced in 1917. The All Star shoe only came in one color, which was black. The Converse All Star was to be the first mass produced trainer in North America. It consisted of a very thick rubber sole, and an ankle covering canvas upper. At first however, it really did not catch on with people, especially basketball players. It would nevertheless, a few years later, become quite popular, thanks to players such as Charles "Chuck" H. Taylor.

Charles H. Taylor was a basketball player for the Akron Firestones team. He liked what he saw in the Converse All Star shoe and knew that basketball players all across America would soon be wearing them. As a matter of fact, he very much believed in the shoe so much that in 1921 he joined the Converse sales force, and traveled all across the United States not only promoting the Converse All Star trainer, but also the game of basketball itself, for which he hosted several basketball clinics. Because of his tireless efforts, Taylor was named the "Ambassador to Basketball." But the Converse Corporation also bestowed something else on him. Because he was so successful in promoting the Converse All Star trainer, as well as making important changes in the original All Star shoe, in 1923, his name "Chuck Taylor" was added to the ankle patch. This is how, the "Chuck Taylor" Converse All Star basketball shoe came into being.

Soon enough, basketball teams as well as American boys were wearing Converse "Chuck Taylor" All Stars. Because the sneaker was so popular, the Converse Corporation produced the white high top chuck as well. During World War II, Chuck Taylor became the fitness consultant to the entire United States Armed Forces. And the Converse All Star "Chuck Taylor" went off to war as GI's carried out their exercises in the white high top chucks that became the "official" trainer of the United States Armed Forces.

Following the second world war, basketball teams were clamoring for color in their high top chucks. Soon teams started to even put colored shoe laces in them. Teams also had their white Chuck Taylor trainers dyed in different colors as well. In 1966, the Converse Corporation, seeing the need for more color in their "Chuck Taylors", began to produce a wide variety of new colors in addition to the traditional black and white chucks. By this time Converse owned 80% of the entire trainer industry. In 1968, Chuck Taylor was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, one year later he passed away.

Since the era of Chuck Taylor and the prominence of the Converse company in the first six decades of the century, lots of changes have occurred in the athletic shoe industry. In the 1970s, companies began making basketball shoes with leather uppers, and in the 1980s a number of high tech innovations were added to basketball as well as other athletic shoes. Many new athletic companies have emerged and marketed a very wide variety of basketball and other sports and leisure shoes. The ownership and management of the Converse Company has in the meantime changed several times. And the manufacture of athletic shoes has moved from the USA all the way to Asia.

But despite all of the innovations and changes in the athletic shoe industry, "Chuck Taylor" sneakers continue to live on! Approximately 30,000 pairs of high top Converse chucks are still sold each week across the world. By 2003, over 580,000,000 pairs of Converse chucks had been sold. Unlike other trainers that tend to lose their popularity, the Converse All Star "Chuck Taylor" still remains very fashionable. Converse All Star "Chuck Taylor" trainers are ninety years old but still going strong. And since 1923, except for the addition of new colors, original "Chuck Taylors" have not changed one bit -- and they most probably never will!

Find fashion by Converse @ the following eshop: