I couldn’t tell you the first time I wore a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars. I do know that I haven’t stopped wearing them. And neither have many, many others worldwide.
Odds are you have owned a pair. Your parents probably did, too. Even their parents probably rocked Chucks. I started back in the 1980s, growing up in South Central Los Angeles and Long Beach. They were about $30 back then.
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I saw my favorite rappers wear them and mention them in songs. My peers wore them. They looked good with Dickies or denim. Some of my friends opted for the low-top version, high socks and shorts. Those who liked skateboarding and surfing wore them, too.
As I viewed my collection of Chucks, I wondered why I, and so many other people, continue to wear them. It’s nothing fancy: canvas with a rubber sole. It’s inexpensive — you won’t find a standard pair of Chucks sold on the secondary market for hundreds of dollars. Yet, a shoe that retails for about $65 remains a staple in fashion and culture.
Everyone from celebrities to the average citizen wears them … but why?
“It’s still the greatest shoe of all time: it transcends culture,” said Jeremy Kirkland, host of the “Blamo!” podcast, which discusses aspects of fashion. “It transcends every breadth of American culture, and it’s also every socioeconomic part.”
An All Star can be dressed up or dressed down. It includes the “famous four” of the toe cap at the front of the shoe, the toe bumper, the upper rand stripe and lower rand stripe. And you can’t forget the ankle patch on the high tops. The silhouette of the high top is world known and recognized as a symbol of American footwear.
“We always want to look like someone else for better or worse, and there’s always a cool picture of someone wearing Chucks,” Kirkland said. “It’s the eternal shoe mainly because it’s also been in films and TV. The bad guys wore Chucks; the good guys wore Chucks. It’s more or less invincible.”
Chucks have been around for more than a century. It all began when the Converse Rubber Shoe Co. introduced its first shoe for a relatively new sport — basketball. The shoe, worn by hoopers for decades, was first introduced in 1917 in black and brown and was called the Non-Skid. It was renamed the All Star in 1919, according to Converse.
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Salesman Chuck Taylor was hired in 1922 and helped take the Converse name around the country, teaching basketball at clinics while also selling the shoes. His signature was added to the shoe in 1934, making it the first signature shoe. It’s also the same year Converse came to its first licensing deal with Disney by putting Mickey Mouse on the shoe.
Basketball became an Olympic sport in 1936, and Converse was there to sponsor the United States men’s team, debuting an all-new white shoe with red and blue striping. This version of the Chuck is the blueprint for the modern version.
Kobe Bryant had some hoops fans miffed in 2009 when he collaborated with Nike to create a low-top signature basketball shoe. It didn’t make sense to those who wondered about ankle support.
Bryant’s idea, however, wasn’t new. Converse did this with the All Star in 1957. The shoe went low at the recommendation of the Harlem Globetrotters, and this version caught on not only with basketball players but also with surfers who found the shoe easy to take off at the beach.
Nowadays, several NBA players play in low tops.
“We did it for a very basketball-centric reason,” Converse archivist Sam Smallidge said. “Players want more ankle mobility. But our consumers, similar to color, took it in a whole other direction, which is really cool to see.”
The Chuck is woven into NBA history. Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points wearing them in 1962. By the 1970s, the basketball shoe world was shifting. Leather was preferred over canvas, and the shoe began transitioning to more of the lifestyle accessory we see today.
On the court, the Pro Leather All Star was launched in 1976 and worn by the likes of Julius Erving. It had a leather upper and padded tongue as well as an ankle collar.
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Tree Rollins is the last player to wear the canvas All Star in the NBA, doing so during the 1979-80 season. Michael Ray Richardson is said to be the last NBA player to wear the leather version, in 1982.
The shoe became more about fashion in the 1980s. Converse had shoes like the Weapon for on-court stars. Meanwhile, Chucks took their place as a part of culture.
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“Whether it’s culture, pop culture, whatever, and that you can see a cartoon drawing of a character and if they just put that little circle on their foot to symbolize the ankle patch, you instantly go, ‘This person is cool, they’re wearing Chucks,’” Smallidge said. “That’s the historic legacy. It’s carved such a unique space for itself in terms of the ability that everyone has worn it at some point that you know what that shoe feels like on someone’s foot, even if you can’t reach out and ask in that moment.
“Everyone has experienced the feel of a Chuck Taylor on their foot at some point. To me, that’s the coolest part of our legacy.”
Though they’re not used on the court anymore, Chucks have not ceased being a part of athletic endeavors. The lightweight design and canvas upper still make them preferred by some weightlifters. They also are popular with athletes in sports entertainment.
“I felt cool wrestling in a pair of Chucks,” WWE Superstar Dakota Kai said. “That was the thing that meant the most to me.”
Kai said Chucks were expensive growing up in New Zealand, but she saw WWE Hall of Famer Trish Stratus perform in Chucks and was inspired to do the same. Kai likes the ankle support provided and that they are light enough to maneuver in — among other things.
“It’s amazing, like, how it’s so simple, but it’s so comfortable,” Kai said. “You can pretty much do anything. It’s my go-to if I’m just out doing errands. It’s just such an easy shoe that goes with everything — like, if I’m wearing a dress, (or) I can put my socks on for my sweatpants, (or) I can put on a tuxedo.”
The practicality of the Chuck is a constant. Skateboarder Sean Pablo wore them before signing a deal with the company. He preferred the thinner sole over other skateboarding shoes.
Pablo has grown to appreciate the history of the shoe, too.
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“I think what makes them timeless is their simplicity,” he said. “They’re good for anything. Any job you need to do, you can do them. You can skate and go. You could wear them with a suit; that’s like my favorite time to wear (them), with a really nice suit.”
Milton Martinez is another skateboarder who loves his Chucks. He prefers the low tops when on his board. He didn’t know much about them growing up in Argentina, but as he got into skateboarding, the Chuck became his shoe. Martinez, the 2019 Thrasher Skater of the Year, said he can feel his board better while wearing his All Stars.
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Now that he’s signed with Converse, Martinez even wears Chucks when he rides his motorcycle. He had to learn just how versatile the shoe was for him.
“I just knew it as a basketball shoe,” he said.
Nike acquired Converse in 2003. By then, its place as a lifestyle shoe was cemented with Nike’s dominating the hoops market. Some Nike-endorsed athletes such as Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker wear Chucks off the court regularly. The list of celebrities who have made references to the shoe continues to grow. Rock band the Ramones was known for their love for Chucks. In the 1985 movie “The Last Dragon,” the antagonist Sho’nuff is known for his “Kiss My Converse” line.
Chucks became a symbol of West Coast living and hip-hop. While New York had Timberlands, California had Chucks. Snoop Dogg wore Chucks during his rise to prominence in the early 1990s. Ice Cube, too. Rapper The Game uses Chuck Taylor as an alias on his songs. Terrace Martin released the song “Chucks” this year.
Kirkland said in American shoe lore, only the penny loafer is comparable to the staying power of the Chuck. Keeping the All Star relevant would seem to be simple. The shoe has been passed down with every new generation putting its own spin on it.
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Converse vice president of product Brandis Russell isn’t taking that for granted.
“We’ll never assume that we have anybody,” Russell said. “We definitely think about the spectrum of the consumers that we have.”
Russell said innovation remains part of keeping the shoe fresh for Generation Z. She leans on Smallidge and the archives to make sure innovations don’t stray too far from the essence of the Chuck, while staying connected to today’s culture and creativity. Art, music, sports and style are part of the formula. Russell’s team also looks at colors, graphics and different materials to incorporate into the shoe.
It also helps when pro athletes such as Booker stand by the brand by endorsing versions of the shoe like the Chuck 70 — a reboot of the 1971 version of the performance All Star.
“This notion of a brand anchored in creativity but connected to culture gives us the latitude and the contemporary lens to make sure we’re staying connected to consumers today,” Russell said.
So why would I or anyone still wear Chucks? I have shoes with a lot more padding in the soles, certainly shoes that cost a lot more. But I still turn to my Chucks often, because since I was a kid in Southern California, I knew what I was getting with them.
For generations, they’ve always been a reliable choice. And through evolution, they’ve kept a home in sports and pop culture.
“When we look at things that stand the test of time, it’s the accessibility and the fact that it doesn’t change,” Kirkland said. “The second that the Air Force 1 or the Chuck Taylor evolves, American culture is screwed. It’s a safety and security blanket that no matter what, you still have your Chucks.”
(Illustration: Sam Richardson / The Athletic; photos and graphics courtesy of Converse)
