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"Sky Gellatly\u2014marketing director of shoe heaven Flight Club and bona fide sneakerhead, is doing a series of blog posts for the GQ Eye called Sole Searching, a rundown on history's most iconic sneakers. First up: Converse Chuck Taylors.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nThe Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star (along with the Ray Ban Wayfarer) has to be one of the very anchors of American regalia: our go-to, beat-up-'till-its-time-for-the-next-pair sartorial all-star. I have a pair of Chucks that's crossed as many foreign borders as my passport. From Roppongi Hills to Rio de Janeiro: wherever I go, they go. Friend and fellow footwear aficionado Lupe Fiasco says, \"Chucks have a certain universality when it comes to the art of the getting dressed. From formal to filthy hipster to punk rocker, the Chuck is the ultimate diplomat. Not to mention Chucks are like the official shoes of live performances.\" Yes, Lupe is a professional lyricist. And yes, the owner of a well-loaded quiver of Chucks.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nAnd how has such a simple sneaker come to embody so much? Let's take a stroll down memory lane. In 1917 Marquis M. Converse and the Converse Rubber Shoe company in Malden, Massachusetts dropped the first Converse All Star. And from the outset, it's always been an affordable option. \"Chuck Taylors saved me when I was kid. It was all that my parents could afford. Every six months we went in and for like $15 we got a new pair of shoes. Nothing used to give me confidence like a new pair of black Chucks,\" reminisces Good Charlotte front man Joel Madden.\n\n A brief history of the Chuck Taylor\n\n In 1921, Charles \"Chuck\" Taylor, a venerated High School basketball player, joined the Converse corporate team as a salesman in their Chicago office. One of his first tasks: to help re-design the All-Star. After several revisions and suggestions, Converse and Charles Taylor chose to add the now-famous \"All Star\" ankle patch to the storied basketball shoe, initially an innovation for ankle support.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nThe payoff? In 1930 Converse stamped Chuck's name on the All-Star patch, a gentlemanly nod to his dedication to Converse and the game of basketball; Chuck is perhaps the first basketball player to ever have a \"signature model\"\u2014and also perhaps one of the only basketball players not to receive royalties for his signature.\n\nOver the decades, cool kids the world over have all rocked Chucks: James Dean, Joey Ramone, Kurt Cobain. Another style icon, Fonzworth Bentley, says: \"Chucks used to be the go-to-kicks for some of our greatest sports atheletes. Now, they are a fashion statement without being one; regardless of your socioeconomic class, a pair of Chucks represents style, class, and humility\u2014as much as it does a heritage in performance.\"\n\n Pharrell Williams on the cultural relevance of the Chuck Taylor\n\n Converse's recent moves into sportswear\u2014collaborating with John Varvatos, Comme des Gar&amp;amp;#xE7;ons, Bape, and United Bamboo\u2014signal its continued evolution. DJ A-Trak calls Chuck Taylors \"basically the most classic sneaker ever, a timeless shoe that will always look cool, never bummy, even surprisingly elegant at times. Because of their simplicity they've also lent themselves to some great collabos over the years. A canvas shoe that in turn became a canvas for other artists.\" 2010 will see Converse launch a new line of Chuck Taylors, aptly called the \"First String,\" a modified range of the Chuck that boasts increased cushioning and broken-in pastel hues. After all, even an All-Star can always get better. But still, please, rock 'em 'till the wheels fall off. Stars are meant to fade.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n\u2014Sky Gellatly"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/sole-searching-the-converse-chuck-taylor-all-star>