Back to school… “Converse” anyone?
With kids getting ready to return to the classroom, many mothers and fathers are redressing the kiddo’s wardrobes. And one of the most all time popular hip sneaker is the classic “Converse”. And not only do kids like them, but those of us big kids (adults) love them too; brings back childhood memories of end of summer and a fresh new pair of canvas sneakers in black or white, and for the “younger” adults options of colors! Did you know that 60% of Americans claim to have owned at least one pair of Converse in their lives?
The original version was a high top sneaker for basketball; referred to as “Chuck Taylors”. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that the Oxford low-cut version came about. So why were they called Chuck Taylors. Well, after a guy named Chuck Taylor of course! He was a basketball player from Columbus Indiana, who played his first professional basketball game in 1919, at the age of 17, while still in high school. By the mid-1920’s he was player-manager for the Converse All-Star barnstormers. He traveled the mid-west playing, managing and eventually moving into coaching. He always wore the canvas basketball shoes, and the company seeing that he was pretty popular on the basketball circuit, and a well-known coach of many players that went onto paly professionally, asked him to endorse the shoe and put his name and signature to the Converse in 1939. The likes of James Dean, Elvis, and the Beach Boys wore these in the 1950’s making them extremely popular with teenagers outside of the basketball industry, and they have remained popular to this day!
What color will you be adding to your wardrobe this season?
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