Chuck Taylors
There are few things in the world that are instantly recognisable. Few products have branded themselves in such a way that they are firmly burrowed away in society. For example when you clean the house you nearly always use a hoover. Though technically you should call it a Hoover and if you’re going to be really picky you shouldn’t call it that unless you really are using a vacuum that is from the Hoover product line. It’s the same for iPods; people have a tendency towards just calling all MP3 players iPods, and it’s the same for the humble biro; which technically should be called a ball point pen unless you really are using a Biro.
Branding is not just in the name, it’s also in the design. Dyson with their iconic grey and yellow colour scheme and Porsche with a design that looks like it hasn’t changed since the first 911 (only save a few curves smoothed out, it seems).
So when you see someone walking towards you with the white tips of a pair of canvass shoes sticking out from under the edge of their jeans it’s obvious exactly what shoes they’re wearing.
Converse All Stars, Chucks, Cons or All Stars are iconic in their design that hasn’t changed since the last major revision of the design in 1969 shortly before Chuck Taylor’s death. In the 1920’s Chuck Taylor (once a prominent basketball player and then turned shoe salesman and designer) started work at Converse Shoes Chicago to improve on the design of a shoe he had worn while a sportsman. 1923 saw the birth of the shoe we know now, with the star on the ankle patch with Chuck’s signature. With the rise in popularity of the hi-top more variations were added; more colour choices, different laces as well as the low-top, high-top and knee high variations on the shoe.
The shoes themselves are iconic in popular culture as “trade marked” style choices by people in the public eye. Zachary Levi as his character in the NBC show Chuck almost ironically sports a pair of the iconic shoes. Jamie Hyneman from the Discovery Channel show, Mythbusters is seen often sporting a pair of red All Stars along with his familiar unblemished white shirt and black beret. Those of us familiar with Dr. Who will also know that two of the Doctors often sported Converse All Stars as part of their attire.
The shoes themselves, being the most popular and famous athletic shoe in the world are much like Hoover and Biro. Too often you find people calling just any old white tipped canvass shoes Con’s or Chucks just through ease of style understanding. You say “I’ve bought a pair of Chucks” people will instinctively know what style of shoe you’re talking about, but quite honestly they’re not Chucks unless they bear his signature on the ankle patch.
I say everyone should have at least one pair of these shoes, in any style. I myself own several pairs varying from super hi-tops, hi-tops and One Stars and in different colours including one pair with flames on the side.
Being from England though, I can say with the upmost authority and experience, that these shoes do not work in the rain… !
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