Converse: the immortal shoe

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Kaitlyn Siegel, Features Editor

Your eager fingers flip open the cardboard box and push aside the tissue paper.  You fumble around inside for a few seconds and feel the smooth rubber and grainy canvas. Focusing intently you slip them on and manage to tie the perfect bow.  Jumping out of your seat you bound across the shoe store in search of a mirror.  These shoes look great.  These shoes feel great. You just purchased your first pair of Converse.
You can tell a lot about a person by their shoes: if they’re an athlete, a prepster, an artist, a hipster or all of the above.  However, Converse do not conform to this trend.  These universally worn kicks have been laced on the feet of adults, children and teens for nearly the past century. It’s not just the immortality of the Converse brand that is intriguing, but it’s success and the footprint is has left on history.
One common misconception about Converse is how they got their start.  In 1908, Marquis Mills Converse founded the Converse Rubber Shoe Factory.  It specialized in the creation of rubber-soul shoes and boots, however, wanting to expand their market, the firm invested in creating athletic shoes.  Beginning with shoes for tennis, Converse later shifted to the manufacturing of Basketball shoes. This is when the success really began, and basketball player Charles “Chuck” Taylor is largely to thank.
Five years after Converse began manufacturing basketball shoes, Chuck Taylor, an avid basketball player, applied for a job at Converse and was hired as a salesman.  However, he became much more and was soon the face behind these shoes. It was Taylor’s idea to make the shoe more flexible, supportive and to add the signature circular patch to protect the ankle. Taylor also traveled the U.S in a Cadillac with a trunk full of shoes and his only permanent residence was a locker in the company’s warehouse.
Taylor was a marketing genius. He started the “Converse Basketball Yearbook,”  where the best players, trainers, teams and sports moments were commemorated. In addition, he led basketball clinics  and became a fitness consultant for the military, all while sporting Converse. Taylor even stretched outside of the shoe realm by creating the first stitch-less basketball. In 1968, one year before his death , Charles Taylor was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. There is no doubt that Chuck Taylor more then deserved to have his name stitched on every Converse shoe produced.
One reason Converse are known as such strong patriotic symbols of America may be rooted in their usage in the 30’s and 40’s. Around the same time American athletes were sporting red, white and blue “Chucks” in the 1936 Olympics, soldiers were protecting the United States in black “high tops” during WW II.
The real Converse boom came a few years later between the 1940’s and 1960’s when Converse controlled more than half of the sneaker market. During this time, Chuck Taylors became available in different colors so teams could match their shoes with their uniforms. “Low cut converse,” although not as supportive, were produced during this time as well.
Commonly following a boom is a bust, and unfortunately this loss of market for the Converse company also proved true. Around the same time Chuck Taylor died, running became more popular, sparking the creation of “comfort” shoes.  By 1979, Chucks had tiptoed away from the NBA for good, replaced by shoes like Jordons, Mellows, and Nikes. However, they soon found a home on the feet of hippies and rockers as a fashion staple of the 70’s and 80’s. Unfortunately, this market was not enough. No longer being the official shoe of the National Basketball Association, Converse was on a slow but steady decline.
You could say “Chucks” hit rock bottom in 2001 when they filed for bankruptcy. After being tossed around between companies, they were finally purchased by Nike for 309 million dollars two years later.  The “Made in the USA” aspect of Converse also slipped away in 2001, as they began outsourcing to Asia.
Though the sale of Converse has been bumpy over the past few decades, they prevail as a comfort shoe and are still commonly sported by celebrities such as Katy Perry, Michelle Obama, and Zac Efron, not to mention by kids and adults everywhere.
SSES students sport their Converse
SSES students sport their Converse
Converse have a strong presence in the halls of Saint Stephen’s, and seem to be becoming more popular. Junior Lindsay Leskinen hasn’t owned them for a while, however, she said, “I actually just ordered a pair; apparently they are making a comeback.”Shreya Patel wears Converse more for the element of style they bring to outfit. She admires them for the “balance they provide to a posh outfit.” As it is gracefully summed up on their website,  “Converse doesn’t confine itself to one style or definition. If you’re wearing Converse, you know who you are.”