Converse

Converse was founded in Massachusetts in 1908 by Marquis Mills Converse as the Converse Rubber Shoe Company. Its early work in rubber footwear led to a lasting place in sport, particularly basketball. The All Star, introduced in 1917, became the foundation of the brand’s best-known shoe.

Basketball player and salesman Chuck Taylor helped develop and promote the All Star, giving his name to a design that would travel far beyond the court. Its canvas upper, rubber toe cap, and ankle patch became recognizable elements of everyday dress. Musicians and other wearers made the basketball shoe part of identities the original sporting purpose could not prescribe.

The wider archive includes the Jack Purcell and One Star, offering other interpretations of the low-profile sneaker. Their appeal in menswear rests on adaptability. A simple canvas shoe can sit beneath jeans or interrupt the formality of a suit, changing the tone of the clothes around it.

Nike acquired Converse in 2003, while the brand retained its own identity and Boston base. Partnerships with Comme des Garçons and Rick Owens have placed its established shapes in new fashion contexts. Those reinterpretations depend on an unusually durable original, a shoe whose sporting history remains visible even when its meaning changes.