Chuck Taylor All Star
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Chuck Taylor All Stars , also known as “ Chucks ”, “Cons” or “Connies” in the USA, were originally intended only as basketball shoes, but have developed into one of the most successful shoe fashions in the world. Since 1917, Converse , which is now part of the Nike group, has sold over a billion copies of these textile shoes worldwide. This makes the Converse Chucks the most successful shoe model in history to date.
history
The first shoes with rubber soles and linen shafts (" canvas ", for a long time made of cotton in a linen weave ) were produced from around 1860 onwards. From 1892 a division of the United States Rubber Company produced such shoes under various brand names and from 1917 brought out the first mass-produced sports shoes with the Keds .
In 1908, Marquis Converse founded the Converse Rubber Shoe Company in the USA , which first manufactured winter-proof shoes and later also sports shoes ( basketball , tennis , fishing , football , wrestling ) and others. The first basketball shoes from the All Star brand came out in black in 1917. Basketball was only invented in 1891, was often played in dance halls with parquet floors and was still in its infancy. In 1921 , basketball player and Converse employee Chuck Taylor began promoting his sport and All-Star shoes. He himself had worn his first chucks in 1918. In 1923 they received a round patch on the inside, by the ankle , with his name and were now called Converse All Star Chuck Taylor , which later became the name Chucks . The patch was solid blue on white in the 1950s, was often two-tone with red in the 1960s and is considered the first signature on a basketball shoe. Shoes produced for other sports were later given the name Chuck Taylor on the shoe and / or on the packaging.
The Chucks success story began after the American basketball team made them their official shoes. In 1936 basketball was an Olympic discipline for the first time, the American team won against Canada and won the gold medal. In 1939, the first NCAA championship game was held in which both teams wore Chuck Taylor All Stars . The shoe became a trend . In the USA, there was also the factor of domestic production. During the Second World War (USA from 1942), in addition to special aviator boots, Chuck Taylor All Stars were also produced for basic military training and are still included in the lists of military ordering systems today. Chuck Taylor was a fitness advisor with the Army during this time. When the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League merged to form the National Basketball Association in 1949 , almost all of the players wore Chuck Taylor All Stars . During the 1955/56 season, the Chucks are number one among basketball shoes. In the 1950s, inexpensive and easy-care sports shoes, especially in North America generally called “ sneakers ”, became everyday shoes for young people. From the late 1950s or early 1960s, smaller sizes were also produced for children. Converse introduced the low-cut Chuck Taylor All Star Oxford from 1962 (official company history, according to other information 1957) , which soon had success. After only black and white Chucks were produced until 1966, the range was expanded by seven additional colors (rainbow). Before that, shoes were sometimes provided with colored shoelaces for the basketball teams' color requests or colored afterwards. Other colors were added later, some only for a certain period of time. By the late 1960s, Converse held 90% of the basketball shoe market. In 1974, eight out of ten players in major colleges and junior colleges wore Converse All-Star shoes. Starting with the professional players, shoe development continued, especially from the orthopedic point of view for athletes and with leather shoes. In 1988, Converse generated a third of its sales with chucks, basketball shoes and the performance category.
By the 75th anniversary in 1992, around 500 million pairs of Chucks had been sold worldwide, around half of them in markets outside the United States. In 2000 there were 570 million couples.
The Converse company filed for bankruptcy in 2001. As a result, all factories in the United States closed. There were hamster purchases and the chucks were hard to come by. In the previous years, production facilities had been set up in Asia (China, Indonesia and Vietnam), where the shoes continued to be produced. Nike acquired Converse in 2003 for $ 305 million.
Image / fashion
The fashionable image of the shoes originally came from the direction of rebellion and individuality. They have a certain cult status, have been repeatedly "rediscovered" over decades by several generations and can also be seen time and again with stars of the music scene.
When sneakers became more and more an everyday shoe for young people in the 1950s, also for reasons of rebellion, the change also took place with the chucks. Among other things, there are photos of James Dean and Elvis Presley in these shoes. Especially James Dean contributed to the popularization of sneakers. When the Chuck Taylor All Star Oxford came out, the Beach Boys, among others, liked to wear them. The canvas and rubber can be worked on with a ballpoint pen, felt pen or touch-up pen. Many young people decorated their chucks with sayings, band names or drawings. During the flower power movement, people decorated shoes with peace signs or put flowers in the shoelace loops. In the 1970s, the Chucks experienced their first revival . Mick Jagger married in 1971 in a green suit and white chucks. In addition to the Dr. Martens , they also spread to the punk scene. One magazine wrote that Chucks was the only wearable sneaker brand for a punk. The followers of the punk scene painted the shoes with symbols of anarchy and patched the ailing parts with tape and safety pins until they finally blessed the time. Sometimes two shoes with different colors were worn. Some wearers have decorated their chucks, especially white ones, with patterns they have painted themselves. The company took up this and offers various patterns in addition to the standard colors. After the mainstream fashion wave soon subsided, it became a trend again in the wake of the grunge alternative wave in the early 1990s. Due to the retro trend of 2004, it recently regained its importance in fashion. They are also quite popular with Emos for specific groups . Converse Chucks are also enjoying popularity in the hip-hop scene. So were Chuck's early 90, in addition to bandanas and khaki trousers, the hallmark of the West Coast -Rapper. Nowadays, US rapper Game has a pair on all of his three album covers. Since 2005 you can put together your own shoes on the American website of Converse with given colors, also with different colors on one shoe for the two side parts and the tongue. They are now also worn with business clothes, for example by Ursula Plassnik a black / white crossword version of a black trouser suit. In the summer of 2007, Carine Roitfeld , editor-in-chief of Vogue , wore gold Chuck Taylor All Star at fashion shows in Milan.
Appearance / variants
The appearance of the Chucks has hardly changed between 1923 and today, but the variety has increased significantly. There are basically three variants:
- flat chucks (LO, Ox), in which the ankles remain free, since 1957 (according to current company history since 1962)
- high chucks (HI) that reach over the ankles have been produced from the beginning
- Extra-high chucks (X-Hi, XXHi, Knee-HI, NEEHI) are produced around 1985 and have a shaft that is twice as high. Some models are specially designed to turn the shaft down to the height of hi-chucks.
- Chucks with thin soles (Slim), since 2008
- "Double Tongue" (since 2008)
- Ankle Boot (since 2006)
The shoes mostly consist of a linen fabric (" canvas ") (also available in leather and other materials), a rubber sole , laces and the round patch mentioned above, as well as a (white) rubber dome on the toes. There are two riveted air holes on the inside. They are therefore very light, airy and can be worn comfortably in warm and dry surroundings. Chucks are available in different colors and from size 17 (babies around six months old) to 53.
Imitations and variants of the Converse Chucks
The proliferation of chucks led to similar products from other companies at lower prices. The appearance of these shoes is often almost identical to the Converse All-Stars, right up to an imitation of the typical round patch (today only one print depending on the model), but unlike the original, this is partly on the outside.
Web links
- Converse Website - (US & International, English)
- Converse website - ( DA-CH )
- Charlie's "CHUCK" Page (English)
- The Chucks Connection (English, right menu with information)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Converse: Converse History , insidehoops.com, August 5, 2005
- ↑ a b c d Erin Ailworth: Pros and Cons , The Boston Globe, March 2, 2008
- ↑ a b c d e f CONVERSE TIMELINE ( Memento of the original dated November 15, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , nikebiz.com, February 2008
- ↑ a b c Charles L. Perrin: Chucks - Known and Worn for Generations ( Memento of the original of May 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Charlie's Sneaker Pages, accessed April 5, 2008
- ↑ The Sneaker: A History ( Memento of the original from April 30, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , sneakerhead.com, accessed April 5, 2008
- ↑ a b c d e f Converse: Converse Shoes - All Star Chucks ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , sincityonline.de, accessed: April 6, 2008
- ↑ a b Alec Bilmes, Courrier-Mail, Australia: Star Power ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , chucksconnection.com, 2003, accessed April 5, 2008
- ↑ Charles L. Perrin: Converse - Classic Sneakers ( Memento of the original from March 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Charlie's Sneaker Pages, accessed April 5, 2008
- ↑ a b c Romy Uebel: Der Schuhrebell , Der Standard, April 4, 2008 & reader reactions
- ↑ Norbert Knapp: Product placement in the fashion industry , GRIN Verlag, 2007, ISBN 3-638-84959-7 , p. 81
