Converse: Will the Timeless Shoes Ever Go Out of Style?

Converse is debatably one of the most iconic and recognizable shoe brands of the past century. Walking through the university halls between classes, and provided you’re looking, it’s hard to go more than a few minutes without seeing someone wearing a pair of their classic sneakers. The company started in 1908 primarily making galoshes and other rubber shoes. Then in 1917 Converse revolutionized their product selection with the introduction of the All Star “Chuck Taylor” basketball shoe. Sales started off slow but eventually began to gain traction as consumers began to purchase their shoes for many purposes other than playing basketball (ChuckConnection). Converse publicly recognizes this unique fact about the popularity of their All Star shoe on their website when they write, “The name stuck. What didn’t stick was their intention… We made them to sink jump shots on the court. You, however, saw them as something more… and started wearing our sneakers to do whatever you wanted.”(Converse). The popularity of Converse shoes has been consistently stable through the ages, with periods of popularity explosion as seen in the 80’s 90’s. Now in the mid 2010’s it seems that the classic Converse shoes are back in style and the brand could very well on track for yet another explosion in popularity.

Throughout the ages Converse shoes have provided people with a unique way to portray their identity. In the 80’s and 90’s Converse experienced a Grunge Explosion phase where the shoes were extremely popular with “rebels, rockers and punks”; they even became the shoes of choice for bands like Guns N' Roses, Pearl Jam, and eventually Green Day. Ironically during this phase Converse was still trying to position itself in athletic footwear as they were named the official sponsor of the Los Angeles Olympics, but yet again consumers refused to use the shoes for the purposes that Converse had been promoting them for (Bustle). No matter how Converse chose to promote and position their shoes, the grassroots trickle-up trends and styles for wearing the shoes led consumers to challenge norms and use the shoes for reasons of self-expression. 

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYPzPXMfp8Y

Nothing helps you make a statement or stick out in a crowd like a loud and norm challenging pair of sneakers. Converse eventually recognized the unique relationship consumers had to their shoes, and responded by increasing the breadth of their product selection. Now you can get a pair of their classic shoes in almost any style, material, and color. This increase in product selection demonstrates how Converse is not only utilizing, but promoting the unique trickle-up trends and use of their shoes for individual expression. The sheer size of Converse’s selection essentially allows consumers to customize their individual style and way they express themselves.

Source:  https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/44/de/7c/44de7ce7e709299fd4a35f7d1471bc9d.jpg

Just last summer the increase in popularity of Converse caught my eye. Sure, I had seen them around and had known of them for many years, but this was the first time I had ever considered purchasing a pair for myself. I let it slide for a few months because I don’t usually like making impulse purchases, but I finally had to give in and jump on the bandwagon. I purchased two pairs of the Chuck Taylor All Star’s, white and black, both low cut. The next night I wore a pair out to meet up with my friends only to find that two of them had made the exact same purchases as me. Immediately a heated debated erupted as to who would be returning which pair. This wasn’t the first, and certainly won’t be the last, instance of a group of friends all making similar purchases in a response to explosive trends in brand and style popularity. But I believe that Converse’s cyclical popularity explosiveness, followed by a return to a more steady demand and popularity makes them unique when compared to other shoe brands whose demand may diminish away to zero after the consumer craze ends. Converse will always have that grassroots consumer segment of the stereotypical hipsters, if you will, who use their shoes as expression tools, until the classic shoes once again catch the attention of the style spotlight and bandwagon jumpers like myself.


References:
http://www.chucksconnection.com/history1.html

https://www.converse.com/us/en/about/about-us.html

http://www.bustle.com/articles/19882-how-did-converse-become-popular-a-brief-history-of-the-iconic-sneaker