In 1908, Marquis M Converse founded the Converse Rubber Shoe Company in Malden, Massachusetts. In 1917, about ten years after its inception, an addition was made to the converse shoe line that would become one of the most famous shoe lines of all time: the Converse Canvas All Star basketball shoe.
A young basketball star named Charles “Chuck” H. Taylor… began working for Converse shoes as a salesman and became the “ambassador to basketball” as he traveled around the US promoting basketball and the Converse All Star shoe…
A young basketball star named Charles “Chuck” H. Taylor, who played for the Akron Firestones, chose the Converse All Star as his athletic shoe. Taylor began working for Converse shoes as a salesman and became the “ambassador to basketball” as he traveled around the US promoting basketball and the Converse All Star shoe to high school and college basketball teams. In 1923, Chuck Taylor’s signature was added to the famous All Star ankle patch. The All Star shoe was soon to become known as “Chuck Taylors” a.k.a. “Chucks.” Chucks originated as a basketball shoe, and if you look at a basketball court from the 1920’s, every player was wearing a pair. Leather shoes, however, were soon to replace canvas on the basketball court, but the shoe found a new life in the fashion world. Today, over 800 million pairs of Chucks have been sold.
Converse shoes is a leading global designer, manufacturer and marketer of high quality athletic footwear for men, women and children. The company is also a global licensor of sports apparel, accessories and selected footwear. The company’s products are distributed in over 90 countries to stores which include fashion, speciality athletic, sporting goods, department and shoe stores.
Since the birth of Chucks, Converse shoes has produced tennis, cleated and running shoe lines as well as a full line of basketball footwear. Over time Converse shoes developed a line of skateboard shoes, as it entered the skate market. Today Converse shoes enjoys worldwide recognition and is highly regarded as a manufacturer of superior athletic footwear. Converse shoes has also been, and continues to be, strongly involved in the street-fashion and music markets as it associates its heritage and originality with innovative ideas.
Converse shoes continues its innovations and the technical team and design gurus continue to provide consumers with innovative, sports performance and fashion products.
The above information is from the Converse shoes website.