January 15, 2008
Converse Turns 100
By Tom Ryan
[The author is writing a series of articles around Converse’s centennial anniversary for Sporting Goods Business.]
Converse, which turns 100 this year, has certainly lived many lives.
Launching as a canvas basketball shoe back in 1908, its white tops grew to dominate the sport from the forties through the sixties. A large part of the brand’s success came from the relationships Chuck Taylor and his sales team established with high school and college coaches across the country as well as their efforts to promote the sport through basketball clinics.
In the early sixties, Converse began to be used as a casual shoe after the Beach Boys started wearing black low-cut Chuck Taylor oxfords with sweatshirts and cut-off chinos. A growing acceptance of athletic shoes as street wear also drove a shift as well as management’s decision to introduce colors in the late sixties and expand distribution beyond just sporting good stores in the seventies.
Around the same time, unfortunately, Converse started losing its grip on the performance side. Adidas introduced leather shoes in the late sixties and soon thereafter Nike arrived on the scene. Converse had some success with its own leather shoes supported by NBA stars such as Dr. J, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Larry Johnson. But the brand eventually found itself as a small player in the performance footwear category in the face of frequent ownership changes, a bankruptcy as well as difficulties squaring off against Nike’s and Adidas’s marketing machines. Nike acquired it in 2003.
Turning to 2008, Converse is one of the top performers in Nike’s stable of brands, led by newfound fashion cache of the canvas Converse All Star. Although many fans worried that Nike would bring Converse down to the mass market, Nike is earning credit for finally giving the brand some adequate financial backing. A mix of limited prints is enhancing its fashion appeal. Also helping the brand is its heritage, simplicity, still relatively inexpensive price and the fact that it’s a lot different than other sneakers – such as Nike.
“It’s definitely original, which is important,” said David Zaken, the owner of the David Z urban shoe chain in New York City. “Everybody’s owned a pair of Converse at one time. They always look cool.”
“Basically, it’s always been a classic silhouette that never goes out of style like the classic white T-shirt or Levi’s jeans,” said Jesse Villanueva, a buyer at A-Life Rivington Club, a collector sneaker store in downtown Manhattan. “It’s classic America.”
In performance, the brand for the 2007/2008 season is touting its largest roster of NBA endorsers in more than twenty years, led by the Miami Heat’s Dwayne Wade. Converse is also being worn by college teams (Marquette and Western Kentucky) for the first time since the 2000/2001 season. While many wonder how far Nike will push Converse back into performance, Bob Liewald, who manages sporting goods for e-commerce provider, GSI Commerce, said Nike could use Converse as a sub-brand in the performance space.
“They could use it as a buffer,” said Mr. Liewald. “There’s always going to be someone who doesn’t want to wear Nike.”
Discussion Question: What do you think is driving both Converse’s longevity and its newfound success as a fashion shoe? What do you think of its chances of coming back as a strong performance shoe? If you were Nike, what would you do with Converse?
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When I was twelve I wore black Chuck Taylors and, when I ran through the Kansas rain, spent an hour on the porch carving mud out of each little crevice in their soles (or their souls, you choose) with my Boy Scout pocket knife. Twenty years later, in South Carolina, I taught my daughter how to perform the same task on her pink, turndown-collar, size 3 Chucks with the exact same tread pattern. She used a butter knife, though, the same one her mother still uses as a screwdriver. Converse unites families, I guess, and I occasionally wear Chucks to this day.
Converse’s heritage is largely based on its low price. There are Nike-label shoes whose prices are in 3 figures while Converse Chuck Taylor shoes are in the low 2 figures. Best thing about Converse: they’re always freshening the line, fashionwise, without changing the Chuck Taylor construction. So they’re both new and familiar.
Growing up as a basketball crazed kid in North Carolina, a pair of Converse All Stars meant only one thing–you had “made the team.” It was a requisite precursor on that road to your ultimate goal–getting your letter jacket.
Twenty years later I bumped into the then Sales VP of Converse on a plane. He was a contemporary from UNC (he played–I didn’t) and we talked about the brand and how ironic, yet fitting it was that he had landed at Converse. Even then, in the early nineties, he was referring to the brand as “iconic.” At the time I thought “yes, but to a limited club.” Another example of my innate genius marketing acumen I guess….
Of course the brand was far broader than the “All Stars” line, as was its appeal. And I suppose many more folks wore the black, low cut “Chuck Taylor” design than wore the high top All Stars.
I’m not familiar with the demographics of the modern Converse consumer either, but I wonder how many of them also still kick around in something that resembles a pair of Sperry Topsiders (sans socks of course!) in the summertime?
“Everything that’s old is new again.” It’s time for Converse to make a serious comeback and Nike has been wise to hold this golden nugget within its stable. Anyone who grew up in the late ’60s or in the ’70s owned at least one pair of Converse shoes, and loved them. Our kids are now the target market, and we’ll support their choice of a cheaper performance shoe with a cool history and brand image.
Nike can use the Converse brand as a shield against the other brands and capitalize on those consumers that either select a cheaper item or avoid the Nike brand.
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When I was twelve I wore black Chuck Taylors and, when I ran through the Kansas rain, spent an hour on the porch carving mud out of each little crevice in their soles (or their souls, you choose) with my Boy Scout pocket knife. Twenty years later, in South Carolina, I taught my daughter how to perform the same task on her pink, turndown-collar, size 3 Chucks with the exact same tread pattern. She used a butter knife, though, the same one her mother still uses as a screwdriver. Converse unites families, I guess, and I occasionally wear Chucks to this day.
Converse’s heritage is largely based on its low price. There are Nike-label shoes whose prices are in 3 figures while Converse Chuck Taylor shoes are in the low 2 figures. Best thing about Converse: they’re always freshening the line, fashionwise, without changing the Chuck Taylor construction. So they’re both new and familiar.
Growing up as a basketball crazed kid in North Carolina, a pair of Converse All Stars meant only one thing–you had “made the team.” It was a requisite precursor on that road to your ultimate goal–getting your letter jacket.
Twenty years later I bumped into the then Sales VP of Converse on a plane. He was a contemporary from UNC (he played–I didn’t) and we talked about the brand and how ironic, yet fitting it was that he had landed at Converse. Even then, in the early nineties, he was referring to the brand as “iconic.” At the time I thought “yes, but to a limited club.” Another example of my innate genius marketing acumen I guess….
Of course the brand was far broader than the “All Stars” line, as was its appeal. And I suppose many more folks wore the black, low cut “Chuck Taylor” design than wore the high top All Stars.
I’m not familiar with the demographics of the modern Converse consumer either, but I wonder how many of them also still kick around in something that resembles a pair of Sperry Topsiders (sans socks of course!) in the summertime?
“Everything that’s old is new again.” It’s time for Converse to make a serious comeback and Nike has been wise to hold this golden nugget within its stable. Anyone who grew up in the late ’60s or in the ’70s owned at least one pair of Converse shoes, and loved them. Our kids are now the target market, and we’ll support their choice of a cheaper performance shoe with a cool history and brand image.
Nike can use the Converse brand as a shield against the other brands and capitalize on those consumers that either select a cheaper item or avoid the Nike brand.