Chuck Taylor All Star - Fashion Company Profile
The Chuck Taylor All Star is Converse's canvas basketball shoe, first made in 1917 and renamed for the player-salesman Charles 'Chuck' Taylor, whose name went onto its ankle patch in 1923. Barely changed in outline for a century - canvas upper, rubber toe cap, star patch - it is now sold worldwide as a fashion staple as much as a sports shoe, in high-top and low-cut Oxford forms and in an ever-changing range of colours, prints and collaborations.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Operating - the flagship shoe line of Converse, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nike, Inc. since 2003
- Type
- Brand of Converse (Nike, Inc.)
- Headquarters
- Boston, Massachusetts, United States (Converse headquarters)
- First made
- 1917, in Malden, Massachusetts, as the Converse All Star basketball shoe
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Company Profile
This page is the shoe's own profile: its design, its materials and its century of wearers. The company behind it is profiled on the Converse page in this section, and the design history - Taylor's improvements, the Olympic years, the subculture decades and the 2015 Chuck Taylor II update - is kept in full on the history page.
The material story matters to the shoe's identity. Although Chuck Taylors are made of various materials such as leather, the original and most widely known version is made from cotton canvas, and the innovative detail of the original shoe was the 'loose lining' of soft canvas, intended to move along with sweaty gym socks and prevent blisters. They were first produced in 1917 as the 'All Star', Converse's attempt to capture the basketball shoe market - and the man whose name the shoe carries enters the story as a player who became its improver and its evangelist, told in the next section.
Chuck Taylor All Star History
The earlier record for this company - its history, past brand line-ups, figures and photographs from the periods described - is kept on a separate page for historical reference.
Chuck Taylor All Star History & Historical Profile →Common Questions
Why is the shoe called the Chuck Taylor All Star?
Charles 'Chuck' Taylor, a basketball player and Converse shoe salesman, improved the All Star's design in the 1920s - adding flexibility, support and a protective ankle patch. Converse put his name on the ankle patch in 1923 and his signature into the design in the 1930s, in the historical record.
When was the All Star first made, and from what?
First produced in 1917 as Converse's attempt to capture the basketball shoe market. The best-known version is cotton canvas with a stitched upper, a usually white rubber toe cap and a usually brown rubber sole, with a loose soft-canvas lining intended to prevent blisters.
What changed with the Chuck Taylor All Star II in 2015?
Announced in July 2015, the Chuck Taylor II incorporates Nike technology and a modern lightweight insole for increased comfort and reduced fatigue, while retaining the outward appearance of the original shoe, in the historical record.
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