It consisted of a very thick rubber sole, and a ankle covering canvas or sometimes leather upper. At first sales were slow.
Charles H. Taylor was a basketball player for the Akron Firestones. Throughout his career with Converse, Taylor traveled all across the United States hosting basketball clinics and promoting the All Star shoe.
His personal salesmanship plus clever marketing devices like the Converse Basketball Yearbooks put his imprint on the sport at all team levels. But the Converse Corporation also bestowed something else on him. The first white model was introduced at the Olympics, a predecessor to today's optical white high top. In the s Chuck Taylor designed the white high top model for the Olympics, and the shoe with its patriotic red and blue trim became very popular along with all black canvas and leather models of the All Star.
Today you can still buy either the bright optical white model or an off-white un-dyed model called unbleached or natural white. During World War II, Chuck Taylor served as a captain in the Air Force and coached regional basketball teams, considered an important morale booster for the troops. After World War II, the classic black and white Chuck Taylor All Star High Top was introduced in , a much more eye-catching shoe than the monochrome black models that had been produced up to that time.
Chuck Taylor All Stars were the shoe for professional, college, high school, and all serious players, and these distinctive black or white high tops were part of the look of each team. In the low cut All Star was introduced and became popular as a more casual alternative to the high top. Unfortunately, one year later he passed away. Along with the passing of Chuck Taylor went the dominance of the Converse Company.
New rival companies stepped in, spearheaded by the Nike Corporation, and began to chip away at the market share and influence of Converse. Lots of changes began to occur in the athletic shoe industry.
Within a year, he inspired a restyling of the brand's basketball shoe, which led to the nickname "Chuck Taylors. During this period, the Converse All Star was primarily a basketball shoe, and Taylor advertised it as such. He traveled across the United States conducting basketball clinics in order to sell the athletic shoes. In fact, Converse All Stars were the official basketball shoe of the Olympic games for over 30 years. Chuck Taylors became the choice shoe for general athletic events, from gym class to professional powerlifting.
This shift to casual sneakers solidified Converse All Stars as a cultural icon of the people, not just the athletic elite. Though the initial Chucks were in the classic black and white, they became available in a litany of colors and designs as well as limited and special editions. The shoe also diversified its textures to be available in suede and leather along with the original cotton style.
Converse All Stars began to lose their dominance in the s when other shoes, many with better arch support, created competition. Soon, elite athletes stopped sporting All Stars. However, Chuck Taylors were quickly picked up by artists and musicians as a symbol of the underdog. The character Rocky Balboa wore Chucks in the movie Rocky , and the Ramones frequently sported Chucks because they were inexpensive.
Fox all wore Chucks in their films, further marketing the sneaker as a shoe for young rebels. The cheap sneakers became a symbol of U. High-top and low-top Chuck Taylors remain popular. In , Converse released a collection of Chuck Taylors inspired by Andy Warhol —a significant choice, as Warhol is famous for his pop art depictions of U.
The affordability of the shoe is a large part of its popularity, but the marketing and history of the sneakers as a facet of pop culture give it staying power. Converse was also a sponsor of USA Basketball beginning with its inception in The Colorado Springs-based group was responsible for selecting national teams to represent the country in various international competitions and served as a class A member of the United States Olympic Committee. After , Converse was contracted as the official shoe of USA Basketball, which agreed to 'use its best efforts to outfit players in Converse shoes,' according to Jeffrey Orridge, assistant executive director for corporate and legal affairs for the sports group, in a September article in The American Lawyer.
That agreement later caused legal conflicts, as USA Basketball team members including Michael Jordan held contracts with competing shoe companies such as Nike. Requiring players to wear Converse shoes introduced ethical and legal problems that had to be carefully resolved. With the globalization of basketball, Converse increased its overseas contacts.
Founded in and based in Munich, Germany, FIBA included member countries and approximately million registered players. Converse also made a presence at the Olympic Games. Though the company had provided Olympic footwear every year since , in it became the first footwear supplier ever chosen to officially represent the games.
Ever since Chuck Taylor served as its first player endorser, Converse has continued to promote its footwear through high-profile sports celebrities and athletes. By , the brand had contracted endorsements with more than 14 pros representing 11 different teams across the United States. In addition, company statistics showed that 21 percent of all professional basketball players wore Converse shoes.
In the case of basketball endorser Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, Converse received more publicity than it may have bargained for. In Johnson was enlisted as an official company endorser until By the late s, Johnson showed dissatisfaction with the deal, which placed him in the top income echelon of Converse endorsers, but yielded less than those of other top endorsers with other leading brands. After Converse filed suit against the player for failing to comply with his long-term endorsement contract in , matters were resolved temporarily.
When Johnson won the NBA's most valuable player award, Converse created a second highlight piece of his best moves in the NBA tournament filmed in slow motion to the accompaniment of 'Amazing Grace.
Despite Johnson's criticism, Converse moved into the late s and early s with new and innovative marketing strategies aimed at regaining lost market share. Hall of the University of Kentucky Wildcats--on one poster to promote the Converse brand. In the late s, Converse stressed advertising and promotional campaigns to compete with such brands as Nike, Reebok, L. Gear, and Keds. Even under the financial strain of its bankrupt parent, Converse garnered an effective creative team at its New York agency, Ingalls Quinn and Johnson, which developed a hit campaign featuring NBA Rookie of the Year Larry Johnson dressed up as his basketball-playing 'grandmama.
She'll eat point guards for lunch and pick her teeth with a power forward. In October , Converse was acquired by Interco Incorporated, a broad-based manufacturer and retailer of consumer products and services primarily in the areas of footwear and furniture products.
Interco filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy laws. Until it emerged from bankruptcy proceedings in the autumn of , support for rapidly slipping Converse brands was limited to a dangerously low budget. Interco's financial restructuring, however, freed up new funds for Converse investments and marketing plans. Houston took off with a new generation of ads to sell new shoes.
In another award-winning campaign for the new AeroJam shoe, the agency again played off Larry Johnson's 'grandmama' theme. While grandmama performed staggering jumps and dunks in her AeroJams, Johnson narrated: 'There was an old lady who lived in a shoe. And that shoe let her do things that no man could do. These and other aggressive promotional programs began to pay off for Interco's shoe business.
It was spun off in November Diversification followed for the once-again independent company. In it entered into a licensing deal with Shalom Children's Wear to manufacture infants' and toddlers' sporting goods apparel. It also purchased Apex One Inc. Following the acquisition of Apex, Converse launched an 'integrated head-to-toe apparel program' of coordinated outfits bearing the colors of top college teams.
The universities of Arkansas and Kentucky were the first to take to the court in Converse garb and matching sneakers.
But the second half of unfolded in a fiasco for Converse, with layoffs, leaky shoes, and trouble at its new subsidiary.
In June, it announced the cutback of jobs at its Lumberton plant; in August, just 85 days after its Apex One acquisition, it decided to close down that business given unexpectedly slow orders and high costs in the face of a soft apparel market. In fact, the undercapitalized Apex, which had long had trouble making orders, no longer had the trust of most retailers, despite its affiliation with Converse.
In October and November, it laid off two more rounds of employees, and in December, just when it looked as if Converse was getting back on track with the decision to eliminate its outdoor, running, walking, tennis, and football product lines, its RAW Energy and RAW power basketball shoes literally sprang a leak, and the company was faced with the embarrassment and recall of , pairs of shoes.
Looking to regain momentum in , Converse hired Glenn N.
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