Cristian Gonzalez
The Converse Rubber Shoe Company founded by Marquis Mills Converse in 1908 in Malden Massachusetts. It was not until 1915 that the brand decided to take a turn and reinterpret itself, turning completely towards the manufacture of sports footwear.
In 1917 the Converse All Star would become, in the hands of Chuck Taylor, the first sneakers sold as footwear specially designed for basketball.
The History of the Converse All Star in Basketball
As mentioned before, in 1912, after a pause that Converse had made to manufacture thermal boots for the First World War, the Converse All Star was launched. Sneakers that, to this day, have remained with an almost unalterable design, marking generations and generations, and their silhouette is the insignia of a brand nowadays.
These Converse sneakers became the best-selling sneakers in the brand’s history, used both for playing basketball and other sports and also became a reference in urban fashion. The combination of rubber and fabric was a total success.
Parallel to the growth of the brand, we could also observe the growth of what we could call the first influencer, at least in terms of imposing a trend in fashion and sport. Semi-professional player Chuck Taylor became the first basketball player to take advantage of the Converse All Star.
However, this whole relationship between the player and the brand did not start in the best way, as Chuck approached Converse in the first instance to complain about the pain in his feet that the sneakers were causing him. In order to improve the condition of the sneakers, Chuck proposed using rubber insoles and two holes at the arch of the foot for a little more ventilation so the sneakers would not get excessively hot.
Chuck was growing in popularity in the field of basketball and so on, so much so, that the brand showed interest in getting him more involved in the brand, putting his signature on the ankle patch where the sneaker branding went. All this meant that the Converse All Star became known and called by the public as Chucks.
This precedent and impact of these sneakers was extremely great when basketball had just been introduced as an Olympic sport: every player of the team representing the USA in the Olympics organized by Adolf Hitler wore Chucks, and with these they brought the gold to their country.
Today we know about many other brands that dedicated themselves to developing sneakers for basketball, standing out even above any other design that Converse delivers. But the undeniable reality is that the Chucks were, are and surely will be, a reference of fashion and sport, accompanying children, youngsters and adults of all generations since they were created, and those to come.
