Epic Win: Original Converse Chuck Taylor All Star Hi-Tops
From Wikipedia:
In his late 30s, Marquis M. Converse, who was previously a respected manager at a footwear manufacturing firm, opened the Converse Rubber Shoe Company (also known as the Boston Rubber Shoe Company) in Malden, Massachusetts in 1908. The company was a rubber shoe manufacturer, providing winterized rubber soled footwear for men, women, and children. By 1910, Converse was producing 4,000 shoes daily, but it wasn’t until 1915 that the company began manufacturing athletic shoes for tennis. The company’s main turning point came in 1917 when the Converse All-Star basketball shoe was introduced. Then in 1921, a basketball player named Charles H. or “Chuck” Taylor walked into Converse complaining of sore feet. Converse gave him a job. He worked as a salesman and ambassador, promoting the shoes around the United States, and in 1923 his signature was added to the All Star patch. He tirelessly continued this work until shortly before his death in 1969.
I see these everyday.
yeah i’m totally blasting right back into the past: yesterday.
you are really lame, cant you just enjoy this instead of being so lame…
Omigosh. Why can’t you just take a blessing and run with it? Nobody forced you to come on this site. In fact, we would all be much happier if you would take your negativity and go jump in a lake. Converse are cool, and it’s nice that our CheezeFriends have set up a new site. Goodbye.
This is truly nostalgia, though, the old ones were quality made in the USA-
The new ones? They are made in sweat shops in China, and don’t last 2 months.
Seriously. I have some New Cons from Footlocker… Holes, no soles anymore, Plastic thing fell off the laces, the holes are so big, they went right to the sock! You have to buy new ones every other day, now.
I wear these everyday. lol.
I still have my pink ones. My son had a black pair in ‘97, I think they are still awesome.
These are cool shoes…Too many scene emo scumbags wear them though….Pisses me off…
Too many douchebags can’t accept that scene kids and emo kids aren’t the scum of the Earth.\They actually aren’t so bad once you get to know them… Most of then anyways
WTH is the difference between “scene” and “emo” anyways? They all look like damn goths to me, but I’ve seen fights on the intarwebs over one group getting all butthurt cuz they got called the wrong stupid label.
Well, If you don’t care to learn about the culture, then…
they’re all “Goth.”
But if you get to know some of them, you learn things like:
Emo kids hate scene kids;
Scene kids love everything;
Goths hate everything.
At least that’s been my experience with my friends.
it’s just a stupid teen thing tho the joke is emo kids want to kill them selves.
but scene kids make YOU want to kill yourself.
just let them go on shopping at hot topic and they’ll grow up sooner or later.
Why do we even need labels anyway? Just because you dress a certain way you need to be labeled? WTF is that?
EV1 needs to grow up and play nice. Seriously, that shit is old. Everyone has problems, everyone deals with em different. Everyone has feelings, and everyone can be hurt.
Get over yourselves already. You’re not emo, goth, punk, scene… whatever. You’re human, I’m human, that dude over there is human.
John Lennon said it best. “Imagine all the people, living life in peace…”
Love is the answer. Stop the violence.
too many people put too much emphasis on what other people wear
amen
Sorry about the emphasis. I like emphasis.
Seriously? You can’t think of anyone to call a scumbag than every kid out there that gets called emo and messed with all the time? That’s just pathetic.
Ok I seemed to have made a small arguement here…
Im british and Im emo to me Chavs are the scum of the earth and Scene follow behind
I havent got a problem with emos just with Scene Scene buzz off anything like this or something where they pretend to have problems but actually dont… Look it up on urban dictionary and scroll through pictures.. Youll see what Im talking about…
Still popular, I have a pair for when I need to look like I’m totally into indie music.
They’re played out. Everybody knows it.
So are blue jeans, t-shirt, paisley ties, white socks, etc. Anticonformity, rather than nonconformity, is lame. Wear something because you like its comfort and/or looks, and fuck caring one way or the other about what everyone else is doing. If you don’t, you’re still conforming in your own special way.
I personally can’t stand Chucks because they’re uncomfortable for my nearly-flat feet, not because they’re “played-out.”
I wore some Chuck for a while because they fit my nearly flat feet perfectly, since they don’t have giant arches in them.
Err, I wore some “Chucks”. I didn’t make to make a gay innuendo. Lol.
Chucks finally lost their last shred of credibility when Converse was bought out by Nike in 2003.
Is this basically a blog version of “I Love the ’80s”?
I agree this had to be thumbs down for the Nike connection.
There is a scene in I, Robot (which came out not long after Nike bought converse) where Will Smith plugs his vintage chuck taylors. I was so sickened because it was obviously Nike throwing their loads of cash to exploit the appeal of chuck taylor. I think they should just put a big swoosh on them and see how many people buy them then
no no no no NO!!! no nike swooshes on my chucks please and thank you. i wear mine every day!
Ditto.
Pretty Much.
Wait a second….this guy walked into a shoe store complaining of sore feet and they gave him a job?? I think he just wanted a pair of comfortable shoes!
I think if someone needs an explanation to these items as to why they are awesome, that person shouldn’t be here.
My boyfriend wears these everywhere…. he goes through about four pairs a year!
I have a blue pair i rarely wear, but only because i don’t want to wear them out so quickly. (i’m a baker in a cafe so my shoes have to go though everything from wayward bread dough to spilled half and half)
been useing them sence the 70s , go through a pair a year , love them
They aren’t cool anymore. They used to be punk but now there child labour hitops
I have a friend who has about 10 different pair of these, each one a different color. including a pair that are “Crossword Puzzles”.
You can actually get them custom made now. A friend of mine has a pair in gator colors with the gator head logo on them.
Those aren’t the originals in the picture. Those are the limited edition leather ones that came out like 2 years ago.
So that makes this a fail?
And am I the only one who thinks this is a stupid idea (the whole Nostalgic Win thing)?
inb4 Y R U HEER DEN?
No, you’re not. Both my husband and I think it’s lame.
Yeah, this site is even worse that Totally Looks Like. I didn’t think that was possible. . .
Bought my 18 months old daughter a pair of pink ones
Think everyone in the world once had a pair of Converse shoes.. i know i did..
cheers
Great idea btw
I have a pair aswell…Old school mate
I have 3 pairs blue ones that I had since 1987 and a pair of black ones since 1989. I recently bought a pair of red ones a couple of years ago. I love these shoes!!!
Dude… your shoes are older than I am.
>.<
I’m a young ‘un.
Target has one Star by Converse right now!
I luv those shoes. I have one brown pair and I want another one!
Great site.. and luv the shoes!!!
In MALDEN Massachusetts? I live in Malden. Wonder if Converse Avenue was named after that factory then….
Mine had Joe Lapchick on them.
i’m wearing these right now, except mine are canvas not the newfangled leather ones. these are timeless! an American standard! thats like saying “wow, remember jeans? those were something, huh”.
Nice new lolblog
I got a pair and they are really comfortable; fits like socks. I never owned a vintage pair but mine come apart at the gum between the sole barrier and the canvas. The rubber gets eaten off easy. I’m careful with them too.
I totally agree that this style cannot be imitated and they go with just about everything oddly enough. Converse by far has the widest selection in style and color for sneakers in the world and you can even customize them if want.
I had a pair of these back in middle school (1982) that were multi-colored in pink, light blue, light green, and light urple. They weren’t that comfortable but I loved the crap outta them.
YES!!! okay so im a teenager and i wasn’t even alive when these first came out, but I LOVE my chucks!!!!
Ditto
Love them so much that the groom’s men in my wedding are wearing them! We are having them custom made!
When I was a schoolkid back in the ’50s and ’60s, in the pre-Adidas days, high-top “Cons” were the shoes you wanted to be seen wearing to gym class or on the basketball and handball courts, not P.F Flyers or U.S. Keds. We’d rather go barefoot.
I’m just glad people decided they were awesome again, because I’d be doomed… *born in 1992*
They are awesome, I customized some online, and they have a yellow and black striped tongue– like Mathias Jabbs pants.
The only good thing to come out of Malden since ever… What’s funny is you never see them here.
They were unconfortable and cheap. Now they still are unconfortable, but… much more expensive!!
nah… I got both of mine for less than $30 each. When I can spend less than $30 on a pair of shoes I’ll actually wear, It’s all good in my hood. I stuck some dr. scholl’s in there and now they feel great.
Before, all you could do was buy a pair and stick pins in them or splatter paint or write stuff… And now that you can customize them… oh boy…
these things used to be $10 at payless and my mom bought them because they were the only shoes we couldn’t slip off our feet and loose
now they are $70 and you see them on every emo-fag around
way to ruin a good thing (Myspace, dashboard confessional, teen magazines)
I hate these shoes, they hurt my feet.
Ah I love my Chucks!
I have had mine for two years and I only have two tiny rips on each shoe from where the toe of it bends!
They are so comfy!
same with mine im 65yrs old and mine are still clean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love Chuck Ts, and I am not trying to be negative, but these in the picture are are not Converse orginal allstars , these are the plastic or leather version that came out more recently.
ugh, i hate this shoes so much! STOP WEARING THEM! THEY LOOK LIKE EFFING CLOWN SHOES! AND THEY’RE MADE OF NOTHING BUT CLOTH! THEY’RE CRAP!
gawdd >_<
I wear a cheap knock-off pair every day! Luvs them!
If I had the money to spend, I’d buy the real ones.
Hail clown shoes!
whatever, i think my hot pink chucks are wicked for the sake of what they used to stand for. I’m not a spacecadet wearing mine just because kids now adays are wearing wannabes. Thanks to everyone that pointed out that they arent as cool anymore but this is supposed to be about nostalgia, not what they are today. if you have a problem with it take it up with Converse
Hey, I’m not a wannabee. I wore mine everyday.My friends wear them, then it started to branch out. A little bit. Like, maybe, 20 kids in a 300+ school.
These were from the ’20s but they were still very popular in the ’90s. I occasionally see someone wearing them even today.
I have a pair of these shoes and they are probably the best pair of shoes i have ever owned. The best thing about them is that they are really comfortable, even if you’ve worn them a lot. They also look great with anything and once you start wearing them, you wonder how you lived without them!
It may take that extra 5 minutes to put them on and tie up the laces, but its all worth it. Great pair of shoes!!!
My first baby shoes were little Converse and it’s almost the only kind of shoes I’ve ever worn. So, you can imagine my surprise when all my peers started wearing them to be “scene”. It’s increadibly lame to go around saying “NO! I was here first with Converse! WAH!” but sometimes that’s how I feel.
But you can tell, when they’re always bright and shiny and stuff. (Thankfuly everone’s seemed to moved on to Uggs and Crocks-leaving us) BUt still, too much emphasis on what other people are wearing I guess.
Chucks are the best selling shoes EVER. No joke, they are close to the one BILLION sold point.
Myself, I own 97 pairs. I collect them, obviously. And I do prefer the “made in the U.S.A.” versions. They last longer. And, are highly valuable now too if unworn.
People still wear these. Including me. I have 5 pairs of them. I love them.
First of all, i’m wearing the exact ones in the picture right this very second.
secondly: ther eason why you still see people wearing these is because they are TIMELESS, Comfortable, Fashionable (they go with fricken everyything.) and fricken AWESOME.
just sayin’
my entire family wears them.
Edit from my last post:
also who cares if kids are wearing them now? don’t call them wannabee’s. My sister is 14 and wears them. I’m 22 and I wear them. My dad is 40 and he wears them. They look good, and are so simple and comfortable.
no one is a wannabee for wanting to wear awesome shoes.
I know this is a mad-old onceuponawin post but I’m sifting through the archives tonight for stuff I haven’t seen yet…
How did I not know all this time that Converse was founded one city over from me? I wonder if the Converse store that used to be on Highland Ave was the original…makes it even sadder that they closed it, like, 6 years ago. It’s a medical office of some sort now. Y’know…these northern suburbs of Boston – Medford, Malden, Somerville, Stoneham, etc – go virtually unknown but famous-ass shit sometimes comes out of them (Medford: Jingle Bells, Malden: Converse, the band Extreme; Somerville: Fluff, Stoneham: Nancy Kerrigan…) Massachusetts rocks!
Anyway, I am ashamed that I was so oblivious to not know that Converse was bought out by Nike so long ago. It kinda makes me rethink my Chuck collection…still the Chuck Taylor All-Star is a timeless sneaker that has been an icon for decades. It transcends genres, cliques, age, everything. While a lot of teens and tweens are wearing them because they’re trendy or “that’s what you wear when you’re emo” many are wearing them just because they’re cool sneakers. That’s why I wear them. I love collecting different colors and patterns including my two crown jewels: the clear plastic so you can see your socks (only pertinent if you’re wearing some funky patterned socks) and the AC/DC ones with the Highway to Hell cover art. People should stop bitching about emo and/or scene kids ruining it or being poseurs because they’re actually carrying on the Chuck Taylor tradition, whether or not it’s for a good reason. And while it sucks that Converse is owned by Nike now and the shoes are made overseas, still, they’re carrying on and have only marginally changed in the past 80+ years and they’ll still be around another 80+ and perhaps longer.
these were $15 back then, now they are like $45.