Converse
Get some All Stars because you are an All Star
Converse Last Through the Ages
Converse are the oldest, most popular and all time best selling basketball shoe of all time. In 1908 the Converse Rubber Corporation opened for business, and in 1917 the All Star basketball shoe was produced. The All Star basketball shoe was the first mass produced basketball shoe in North America. It had a very thick rubber sole, and an ankle covering was canvas or leather. Sales where slow to begin with, but when Charles 'Chuck' H. Taylor, a basketball player for the Akron Firestone, helped to rapidly increase sales after he saw its potential and joined the Converse sales force. The Converse "Chuck Taylor" All Star, once the premiere shoe of elite basketball players now became the shoe of the counter-culture and of baby boomers who refused to stop wearing their favorite pairs of chucks. The shoes became very popular with rock musicians, and younger generations wore them for their distinctive looks, colors, and comfort and as an alternative to the high priced high performance shoes made by Nike and other companies. They were considered a leisure shoe and now were purchased because they were fashionable. Converse responded by manufacturing chucks in hundreds of different variations that included prints, patterns, unusual colors, and special models for different age groups. Converse have supplied people with a long lasting shoe for almost 100 years and continue to allow people to express themselves with the different variations of shoes everyday.