As more people than ever started to play basketball, some players requested a low-cut sneaker for less restriction of the ankle. Three years later, the shoe was retitled the ‘All Star’ and the name quickly became synonymous with the sport itself. After some internal deliberation, Converse decided to begin manufacturing footwear for basketball. While they might not have realised it at the time, this decision would prove to be one of the most defining moments in the company’s history.Unfortunately, the exact date Converse debuted their first collection of basketball footwear is lost to history. In 1917, Converse responded to growing demand for a basketball-specific shoe with the ‘Non-Skid’, a high-top sneaker named after its grippy diamond-patterned outsole. During a championship game against the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots, Chuck scored the winning points with a clutch half-court shot. Design Icons Converse All Star. Only a small quantity of All Stars were available to the public during WWII. But that’s a story for another issue…In 1928, the All Star dropped the ‘Big C’ logo for its own signature ankle patch and outsole branding. The company became one of the most successful footwear businesses in the world by the middle of the century. At some point in 1919, Converse refined the Non-Skid outsole pattern and added corrugated patterns to the toe and heel for increased traction.The Converse All Star was created during a defining point in the early days of basketball, and the shoe would go on to become the most influential basketball shoe to ever release. The team would run around in the prototypes to test them out on court, and give feedback to the designers on how to refine the shape of the low-top collar. It was during that time that Marquis Mill Converse, a New Hampshire native, decided to leave his job managing a footwear company and start his own business. Converse Subtly Redesigns Logo With A Nod To Its History The Drum. Like the rest of the Converse basketball range, the Non-Skid sported the signature ‘Big C’ branded round leather ankle guard that protected from bruising. After spending over a decade being the Converse spokesperson on the road, Chuck Taylor had become the basketball player most often associated with the brand and its flagship All Star model. The brand sent down designers and boxes of All Stars to the team, and they would chop off the tops to crudely create low-cut versions. In 1949, it would be renamed as the National Basketball Association we know today. By the time the company dropped the Non-Skid in favour of the All Star in 1925, a number of significant improvements had already been made. “The [new] Converse wordmark … A heel cushion was added as an option in 1925, and a new last gave the shoe a narrower shank for arch support. The brand name is placed under the emblem. Given his own experience with the All Star and Non-Skid, the shoes became the main models that Chuck would promote. The innovations that Converse implemented with the All Star – such as the non-skid outsole, ankle patch, cushioning, pivot button and ‘Ox’ cut design – were instrumental in advancing basketball, and allowed players to play harder and faster. In these early years, Converse would become the unofficial shoe of the NBA thanks to their existing lineage in the sport.Regular player feedback led Converse to constantly tweak the design. The 80s would mark the end of the All Star’s long history in professional basketball but, as we all know, a new chapter for the shoe was already being written by a generation of free-thinkers and creatives. So, next time you pick up your pair of All Stars, take a minute to appreciate the century of development that has gone into that pair of shoes. The brand can boast one of the most recognizable elements of visual identification, which appeared in 1963. Converse Logo Evolution. 1929 was also the year the eight-ply toe bumper evolved into what we can still find on current models of the All Star.In the 1800s, New England became the epicentre of America’s Industrial Revolution, largely thanks to the region’s abundance of swift streams that could power large factories. The history of Converse shoes started during the early part of the 20th century. Chuck was already synonymous with the shoe, so Converse decided to sign the very first sneaker endorsement deal – renaming the shoe the ‘Chuck Taylor All Star’.American Icon: The Basketball History of the Converse All Star It wasn’t until the late-50s that the next big update to the All Star came about. The first range included a series of canvas high-tops in different styles, including the ‘Surefoot’ and the ‘Big Nine’, but the early favourite was a style simply called the ‘Non-Skid’.The next year, the company began publishing the annual We’ve been bugging Converse for the keys to their archive forever, and this year they finally relented, inviting Sneaker Freaker to their Boston headquarters to explore over 3500 items stored inside the temperature-controlled vault. The company resumed production of athletic footwear after the war's end. In 1908, he opened the Converse Rubber Shoe Company in Malden, and began production.That same year, a basketball player named Charles Hollis Taylor was playing his first season for the Firestone Non-Skids – a team in Cleveland’s Akron Industrial League. Find Chuck Taylor All Stars, ONE STAR, CONS, & Jack Purcells.
duck and brown leather took on a new mantle – the ‘All Star’. The company begun as a rubber shoe manufacturer, which offered winterized rubber … Charles "Chuck" Taylor, basketball player for the Akron Firestones, became the first player endorser in 1921 when he added his signature to the All Star symbol, which is a circular patch with a star. Forged in the earliest days of basketball, and refined over decades of play, there’s more to the humble canvas All Star than you might think!By the mid-1910s – after a detour into the tyre manufacturing business – the Converse Rubber Shoe Company was looking to expand their blossoming sportswear category. Made with ‘wartime construction techniques’ that used minimally rationed materials, they did not last long under the stress of basketball. With the rise of rival companies, the firm faced a number of challenges, … For the next half-century, the All Star’s on-court supremacy was indomitable. Converse enlisted the Harlem Globetrotters to develop this new silhouette. However, the earliest catalogue in the archive that features ‘Basket Ball’ shoes is from 1916.