Chuck Taylor All-Stars
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Chuck Taylor All-Stars are canvas and rubber shoes produced by Converse. They were first produced in 1917 as the "All-Star", Converse's attempt to capture the basketball shoe market. They were not particularly popular until basketball player Chuck Taylor adopted them as his preferred shoe. He was so impressed with the design that he became the shoe's leading salesman. After proposing a few changes to the shoe, the shoe got its current name and Chuck Taylor's signature on its ankle patch.
Consumers demanded more variety from the shoe - particularly with respect to colors in order to match basketball teams - so colored and patterned shoelaces became popular to complement the two colors, black and white, available before 1966. Afterwards, more colors and styles became available. Low-top or "Oxford", high-top, and later knee-high, versions were produced. More materials were offered for the construction, including leather, suede, vinyl, denim, and hemp. Some versions of the shoe were offered without laces, held up instead by elastic. These new versions of the shoe were also co-designed by Chuck Taylor, just before his death in 1969.
A full biography of Chuck Taylor was published by Indiana University Press in March 2006 under the title Chuck Taylor, All Star: The True Story of the Man Behind the Most Famous Athletic Shoe in History, with Foreword by Dean Smith.
When Converse was bought by Nike and operations were moved from the United States to overseas, the design saw a few alterations. The fabric is no longer 2-ply cotton canvas but 1-ply "textile" and many wearers have noticed different patterns of wear.
Wearers of All-Stars admire the individuality of the distinctive colors, design, and sole of the shoe. They are available in several core colors, seasonal colors, and a variety of print styles. Fans of punk rock have adopted the shoe as a fashion trend since the late-1970s and many popular punk rock bands, such as the Ramones, have supported the trend by wearing the sneakers. All-Stars became popular again in the 90's grunge culture, especially in the early nineties days of G-funk. There has been a recent re-adoption of them in modern hip hop and emo culture.
The Tenth Doctor from the TV show Doctor Who (portrayed by David Tennant) also sports pairs of black, cream, and maroon "Chucks" with his brown and blue suits which he describes as "geek chic".
Popularity
Despite the major setbacks for Converse in recent times, the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star is the most successful shoe in history, and has enjoyed recent popularity thanks to a resurgence of old school trends. By the turn of the 21st century, over 750 million pairs have been sold worldwide. They no longer seem to be worn by their original target market of basketball players (at least not in the professional sphere) who have moved on to more modern shoes, but instead they are now marketed to the mainstream teenager. Some are so enthusiastic about the sneakers that they have a vast, ever-growing collection. They are also quite influential in pop-culture; Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars have been popular for decades in the American punk and indie rock scenes, and Hollywood has popularized Chucks in countless motion pictures.
Since the turn of the century, especially the last 2 years, Converse have become increasingly popular, with a growing market. Originally seen as being worn by those in to a rock music scene, the market is growing to various, younger scenes, whether it be based on a sub-culture (rock still being popular, especially with the growing emo scene) the Chuck Taylors are becoming more popular with hip hop scenes, pop music scene and fashion in general. Many Chuck Taylor owners are those who have owned the shoes in the past, and most own more than one pair, as recently many more colors are now produced than before. They're now hugely popular with indie culture. One other place in which the high-top version of the shoe is quite popular, is in the sport of weightlifting, specifically powerlifting, where the flat soles of the shoe make for a better base than normal styles of sneakers whose heel is usually thicker than the toe of the shoe. Many powerlifters state the lack of elevation in the heel provides better support during squats and Deadlifts.
Chuck Taylors and fashion
Chuck Taylors saw another upswing in popularity in the mid-2000s. Some may attribute this growing trend to a higher awareness of such fashions as emo -- an outgrowth of some of the same rock-oriented youth cultures that have kept an affinity for the shoes since (at least) the late-70s/early-80s punk and new-wave eras.
The recent increases in numbers of colors may also have led to the market for Chuck Taylors growing, due to the apparent customisability of the shoe through color, use of stylised shoelaces, and through drawing or writing on the rubberised parts. The customisation of Chuck Taylors is highly popular with the rock scene, especially teenage girls, with many drawing/writing on the shoes, putting mismatching laces in the shoes, or wearing odd shoes (often two differently colored Chuck Taylors, or a Chuck Taylor and a different shoe) -- all styles fairly common among wearers of the shoes over the past three decades.
Controversy
Although Chuck Taylors are, along with Dr. Martens, still closely associated with punk fashion, punks have been the target of criticism for wearing a shoe that is ultimately manufactured by Nike, a company that has been accused of producing their shoes in third-world "sweatshops". Because of Nike's alleged practices, wearing Converse shoes is at odds with punk's general association with left-wing politics, particularly anarchism and some forms of revolutionary socialism. This criticism has also come from within, from punks such as Mitch Clem.[1] Many punks now wear sweatshop-free imitations, such as those made by the Blackspot Anticorporation or No Sweat Apparel, so as to avoid such an ideological conflict. One can recognize a pair of pre-Nike era All-Stars by the "Made in U.S.A."-marking found in the heels of the American made All-Stars.
In South Africa - particularly in "Townships" close to Johannesburg like Soweto, All Stars are affectionately known as Drie-Fyfe (Dree Fayf) which is Three Five in Afrikaans. Mostly worn by thugs. But this perseption is slowly changing as All Stars are making a huge come back as a fashion item for street wise people.
Trivia
The Guinness Book of World Records states that as of August 23 2006, the world's largest collection of Converse Shoes is held by Joshua Mueller of Lakewood, WA (USA) consisting of 403 unique pairs. Converse All-Stars make up the bulk of the collection. Has now been added to Ripley's Believe it or Not. As of July 12th, 2007 this number has ascended to 525 pairs.
References
External link
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