About

Converse Chuck Taylor All Star

It has been around since 1917 and is therefore one of the longest-running shoe models in the world. Canvas, rubber, a toe cap and virtually nothing else — the All Star has never been overtaken by its own successors, and that is a remarkable achievement for a sports shoe more than a century old.

The man on the patch was a salesman

Chuck Taylor was a basketball player, but his name isn’t on it because he was such a great player. In 1921 he went to work for Converse, travelled the country and gave clinics at high schools and colleges. He sold the shoe by explaining it, and meanwhile proposed improvements. In 1932 his signature appeared on the ankle patch. That’s the rare situation in which the salesman became the icon.

Everything on this shoe had a function

That round patch on the ankle wasn’t decorative: it protected the ankle bone from contact on the court. The rubber toe cap absorbed the abrasion when pushing off. Under the sole is a diamond tread designed to grip on a wooden floor, and inside each shoe are two metal ventilation holes. In 1936 the American basketball team wore them at the Olympics in Berlin.

Driven off the court, adopted on the street

When leather and technical soles took over basketball, the Chuck lost its job. Instead of disappearing it crawled into basements: punk, skate and grunge picked it up, precisely because it was cheap, flat and unadorned. A creature that survived by changing habitat.

The family

The Chuck 70 is a reconstruction to 1970s specifications: heavier canvas, higher rubber rim, glossy toe cap. The All Star Hi and the All Star Low are the high and low basic versions, and the All Star Lift sets the silhouette on a thicker sole.

On this page you can see which versions of the Chuck Taylor All Star are currently hottest according to the Hypescore, from what price they can be found and in how many shops they are in stock.