Unisex designer shoes from Converse
* No leather materials used in construction.
* The original Converse basketball shoe.
* Classic converse comfort: durable canvas upper and rubber sole.
* UK & US sizing are the same for this shoe.
The Beginning
Sometime in 1908, Marquis Mills Converse decided to start a rubber shoe company, bypassing a rubber trust that prevented most companies from doing business directly with their retailers. Early catalogs bragged about how many trucks left the Converse factory in Malden, Massachusetts, delivering product directly to stores in Boston. Mr. Converse’s idea worked. But more importantly, it survived.
1918-1928
Chuck Taylor joins the Converse Rubber Company. How it happened remains lost to history, but the reason isn’t: Chuck Taylor loved basketball and desired nothing so much as to spread of the word of the new game and sell the sneakers it required.
1928-1938
By the time he lent his name to his signature badminton shoe in 1935, Jack Purcell had won five consecutive Canadian championships and been declared the world badminton champion. The Jack Purcell sneaker retains the legacy of its namesake and the feel of his sport.
1948-1958
The invention of Rock & Roll. It was loud, lewd, filthy and everything everyone who feared it said it was. It was also a movement in search of a uniform: It found the leather jacket, the blue jean and the high-top sneaker. Interestingly enough, right about this time, the high-top sneaker was around for the birth of something else: The National Basketball Association.
1968-1978
Somewhere right around 1974, the All Star sneaker got a little bit of a makeover. Remade in colorful suede with a big, bold star on the side, it was built for basketball—but there was something about its brashness and brightness that would make it irresistible to a generation of rockers, skaters and rebellious souls. Then around ’76 came the Pro Leather, an instant favorite in a time when the game needed a vibe.
1998-2008
The brand enters its second century by honoring its heritage of seeing things a little differently, loving people who want to change the world for the better, and basically celebrating the spirit of rebellion and originality in basketball, Rock & Roll and anywhere else you find it.
And there you have it — for now… The best stories are the ones that don’t end — the ones you just keep adding to and adding to — all the while marveling at the creative, disruptive, optimistic, courageous ways things evolve from being what they were, to what they are, to what they will become.
