When 47-year-old footwear manufacturing manager Marquis Converse founded the Converse Rubber Shoe Company in Malden, Mass., in February 1908, nobody ever could have predicted that the brand would end up manufacturing one of the most iconic sneakers in history. In fact, the first type of shoe made by the company were galoshes. Then, in 1917, the company designed a canvas basketball shoe with a rubber sole called the All Star…and changed history forever.
Actually, the history of mass-produced basketball shoes really changed a few years later. In 1922, former professional basketball player Charles H. “Chuck” Taylor started working for Converse as a sneaker salesman and marketer. Taylor, who was also a player and coach for the company’s industrial basketball team, the “Converse All-Stars,” suffered from sore feet and helped redesign the All Star to be more comfortable. Taylor’s input, as well as his success promoting the All Star at touring clinics, was held in such high esteem that the company added his name to the ankle patch in 1934.
The decades that followed saw the All Star grow in popularity and cultural relevance alike. By 2008, an estimated 800 million pairs had been sold, with more than 60 percent of Americans owning a pair of Chuck Taylor All Stars during their lifetime.
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“They have a unique style, but are still classical,” said Hal Peterson, author of Chucks!: The Phenomenon of Converse: Chuck Taylor All Stars. “They are also very retro and comfortable, and appeal to many different groups because of the variations possible with canvas uppers.”
Chucks became a footwear mainstay for all kinds of celebrities, from rock stars like the Ramones and Kurt Cobain to athletes including Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, both of whom starred in a famous Converse ad campaign in the ’80s.
Unfortunately, in the mid-80s, Nike offered Jordan more money than Converse, leading to the birth of the Air Jordan franchise in 1985. Air Jordans exploded in popularity over the next decade and beyond; in 2007, the Jordan brand grossed approximately $800 million.
Converse couldn’t quite compete, and the company’s stock value fell to 20 cents per share before it filed for bankruptcy in 2001. Of course, that wasn’t the end of Chucks: Nike bought the company for $305 million in 2003.
Almost a century after the Converse Rubber Shoe Company was founded, the Converse All Star remains one of the best-selling basketball shoes in the world.
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