Sole Stories: Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star

words // Nick Engvall As the Converse Remix arrives at Champs, seeing the ads on the site has got me thinking about what makes the Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star such a special shoe. The first thing I thought of was the history. After all, there aren’t many sneakers that you can name that have been around since 1917. If you asked just about anyone what the most recognizable shoe in history is, it’s a pretty safe bet that most would say Chucks. There are a ton of really great shoes out there, and in the world of sneakers, many of us know that a lot of them have a long history, especially within the community of people that scours the Internet on a daily basis to share their passion for sneakers. The Chuck Taylor All-Star is bigger than the sneaker community, though. I remember when I was a kid, my stepdad used to swear by Converse Chuck Taylors. For as long as I can remember, my brother and I would spend time drawing what we thought was going to be the next great sneaker design. We’d go back and forth with ideas, erasing (yes, I’m old enough to remember drawing with pencils) and redoing our designs. We had even created our own brand logo at one point, but at five and eight years old, allowance just wasn’t...