This is going to be jaw-dropping. I know, but I can’t be sorry. Can someone please, pretty please, with sugar on top, explain the hype around high-top converse still? Before I begin, I just want to say, this is purely based on my experience with high-top converse. I respect them, and I think they are a very highly regarded shoe — mad respect for the high-top converse.
So, I’d be remiss to say I don’t know this history of the classic shoe. So, after a quick hop-skip-and jump over to Wikipedia, I have my knowledge. Converse became quite big during WWII when they were making shoes for the military. That reminds me of when people started wearing camo pants they found at the thrift store (guilty as charged) and wearing them around as if they didn’t look like a laser tag instructor. I can make fun of it because I did it. Just kidding, you should express yourself however! Who am I to judge? So, before they started making shoes for the WWII military, it turns out they made basketball shoes, and, apparently, some man named Chuck Taylor made them famous. This makes sense because, on multiple occasions, someone has been like, “Nice Chucks!” and I’ve rebutted, “Why did you call them Chucks?” then I have the same conversation literally every time and subsequently forget. According to Wikipedia, at one point Converse had a monopoly over shoes! Until Puma, Nike and Addidas came along. Converse ran so Nike can walk, haha, get it? Cause they’re shoes? Good for running and walking!
Nonetheless, though informative and interesting, this history does not clear up my beef with hightop converse. I suppose my big beef is that they tend to shrivel up? I’m not sure if this is a universal thing, or maybe I just have weird feet (they are strangely wide). However, I used to be a big proponent for black high-top converse, until every pair I had would bend and fold and fade strangely. Nevertheless, I’d be lying if I said they were not the best dang gym shoe substitute ever. Of course, they didn’t have any support and often squeezed my feet, but I looked pretty fly during gym class, and I didn’t have to buy a pair of expensive gym shoes.
I see so many people rocking all different types of converse these days, and it makes me elated! Reds, greens, oranges, purples and custom-designed ones! Despite my love for other people wearing converse, I simply wish they fit better on my feet and didn’t strangely fall in on the sole. When I was an avid converse wearer, I will admit that I wore them a lot, like every day. So, perhaps it was an aftercare issue or the fact that I am really hard on my clothing, but maybe I just need to give converse another chance!
The initial time I ever got converse was when I was in choir in 5th grade, which was probably the most un-cool thing you can do in 5th grade, and we needed black shoes for a concert. So, like any unprepared 5th grader in choir, I told my dad with an insufficient time to pick out black dress shoes. So, I ended up with converse. Not to be that person, but I was rockin’ these shoes before my friends were. I remember owning at least a couple of white and black pairs. Then, I think I had a peachy raspberry pair. Oh, memory lane! It has been fascinating to see how a shoe that’s so old and has been used for so many purposes became one of the standard tennis shoes seen on the Lawrence University campus. Brava!