Jon Gies writes:

“I got a pair of American made Converse Chuck Taylor black high tops in the mail today, what a difference! These shoes are actually made right compared to the Asian ones, have arch support, twice the durable canvas, and the rubber is much more heavy duty as well. I was a late arrival to chucks fashion, and they were already gone from the USA by the time I started wearing them. My current black high tops that are made in China are going on their third year right now. I hope I can get another year out of them. The American made ones will be indoor and patio use only, I want to make these babies last my whole life I hope!

Great site you guys are running, Chucks are not just a shoe, they are an American icon and are likely plastered throughout several major events in history. I do hope they stay popular, if I ever have kids I will get them into the chucks craze early unlike my parents did, haha. I was almost 14 when I started wearing chucks sadly, but I still have my first pair and all the others I have worn since then, just can’t throw the darn things away, lol.”

Some photos of Jon's "new" pair of Made In USA black high top chucks.

Jon’s experience with American made chucks is typical of chucks enthusiasts who were brought up wearing Made in USA pairs. It's too bad that the older standards aren't used in their manufacture any more, things like the rubber, canvas, and insole. Although the new chucks look good and appear identical, as Jon found out, they are not exactly the same. If Converse actually followed the old standards on even just the core models, they would sell even better and for a higher price. The Japanese Converse company did that a few years ago, making the optical white high top the old way. Too bad we haven't seen anything like that since.

Coolest Chucks Moments In Film

There is a new feature on our films page called the Coolest Chucks Moments In Film. Every week or so we will describe a different scene or scenes from one of the over 600 films where someone is wearing chucks along with a collage of some of those moments. Our first film posted is The Cure, with Brad Renfro and Joseph Mazello.

A black high top chuck is used to comfort a kid who is dying...how cool is that?

Chucks in Ireland

On a recent visit to Ireland, this writer was quite pleased at how popular chucks were throughout the country, and how poeple in all walks of life were wearing them. Part of the reason is the youthful nature of the population, with over 60% under age thirty. You would think that green would be the most popular seasonal color, so I was surprised to see so many people wearing red high tops, and the lastest foldovers and prints. Chucks, like most things in Europe, are quite pricey, with the typical store price between 50 to 60 Euros, or 70 to 84 US dollars. Wherever there were gatherings of young people it was nice to see them sporting their chucks. Ireland is an interesting place to visit. When you go, don't forget to wear your chucks.

Left: Young people wearing chucks at the Lusitania memorial stature in Cobh, Ireland. Right: Girls wearing black and turquoise foldeover and gray high tops at a fair.

New Leather Collection of Chucks Released

Just in time for the colder fall weather, Converse has released new leather high top and low cut chucks in some new colors. Beside the classic black and white model, you can now purchase leather high tops in charcoal, chocolate brown, red, royal blue, and white. Low cut oxford models come in white and charcoal in addition to black and white. Click on the link to our high top or low cut oxford pages to order a pair.

Red and royal blue leather high top chucks.

New Summer 2012 Seasonal Colors

Cherry Tomato Red and Parasailing Green are two of the standout new summer colors available in high top or low cut oxford models. Cherry tomato comes out looking more orange than red, but orange colored chucks are hard to get a hold of these days You can see a complete photogallery of a pair of high top chucks in each color. Just click on the Cherry Tomato Red High Top Chucks or the Parasailing Green High Top Chucks links to see the galleries.

Cherry Tomato Red right high top and Parasailing Green right high top.

Converse Americana Flag Print Chucks

Around the fourth of July, Converse released a new line of flag pattern print or flag material chucks. Two of them are shown here. You can see how flag pattern chucks have developed over the past years by viewing our ChucksConnection photo gallery of Flag Print Chucks.

Converse Chuck Taylor red and white striped Americana high top, navy blue flag bunting material Americana high top.

Foldover Double Upper High Top Chucks

For the summer of 2012, Converse has released a new design that gives the double upper-double tongue design more foldover capabilities. Foldover Double Upper High Tops come in red/white and dress blue/gray color combinations. The double upper design is somewhat different from other double upper models in several ways. The inside Chuck Taylor ankle patch is printed in white onto the canvas instead of an actual patch sewn on. The ankle patch only appears on the outside upper. The All Star patch, which you normally see on low cut chucks is sewn onto the inner tongue, so that the upper tongue has to be folded over for the All Star patch to display. The uppers are glued together through the fifth pair of eyelets. There is only one pair of shoelaces for the shoes. As with all double uppers the wearer has a number of lacing options.

Top view of a left red/white foldover double upper high top chuck.

You can view a complete photo gallery of these shoes in both the red/white and blue/gray versions.

Fabulous Collection of Vintage Chucks

Mark Recob has quite a personal collection of chucks, including many vintage pairs and also other models. He has agreed to share pictures of his collection with Chuck Talk visitors. Just click on this link to see the photo gallery.

Mark's collection includes this early adidas imitation of a Chuck Taylor high top.

A new family film, I Heart Shakey, is being released for video on demand and in theaters. Rylie Behr plays ten year old Chandler O'Neill, who must deal with her widower father J.T. and his career plans. They move from a small town to Chicago with their lovable family mutt Shakey. After missing the fine print in their rental contract, J.T. is forced to find Shakey a new home. Chandler hatches a plan to keep Shakey and teach J.T. a valuable lesson about loyalty and the importance of keeping family together. Throughout the film Chandler is seen wearing red and gray low cut chucks.

Stills of Rylie Behr, Shakey, and Steve Lemme from I Heart Shakey.

Recently Rylie had a brief conversation with The ChucksConnection.

CC: Do you like to wear chucks in your normal life?

RB: I usually wear my chucks to school everyday, and if I have to wear something else I carry them in my backpack to change into later. I like the low tops that are more traditional the best. I currently have purple, green, red, gray, a pair with neon turtles on them, and a dark/light purple pair with multiple eyelets.

J.T. and Chandler in their back yard. Chandler and Shakey on thr balcony of a high rise building.

CC: Did you choose to wear the red low cut chucks shown in the film or were they part of a costume design?

RB: The costume was a joint effort since the director, Kevin Cooper, and the wardrobe department actually saw me in my gray chucks during pre-production meetings and thought they would also be a good look on my character, Chandler.

CC: Is there any special reason for wearing red low cut chucks in the film?

RB: They made the decision to have the red pair worn as a symbol of home like Dorothy’s red slippers on The Wizard of Oz. I was so happy because they are comfortable and are something that I normally wear. I also used gray chucks in several scenes of the movie.  I still wear both pairs and also use them professionally for I Heart Shakey promotional events.

CC: What do you like best about chucks?

RB: They are comfortable, go with everything, and I can find almost any design to match my mood or outfit. I actually ask for them instead of other types of tennis shoes when we are shopping for shoes, and refused to wear any other brand of tennis shoes for PE! 

Shakey is jumping over Chandler and JT.

The Chuck Taylor reform is a new seasonal model that is designed for summer wear or wear in warm climates. There are a few changes in the traditional look of the black Chuck Taylor basketball shoe. This is the first black high top released in the United States to have a red racing stripe between the upper and the foxing, instead of the traditional black stripe. The lower stripe has been eliminated and replaced with a red embossed Chuck Taylor signature on the outside white foxing. The words All Star on the heel patch are also embossed.

Two views of the Black/Red/White Chuck Taylor Reform high top.

The upper is made of nylon material, so the shoe ends up being even lighter than the traditional canvas high top. Another difference is the added stitching across the inside edge of the toe cap. These shoes are manufactured in Vietnam so the toe caps are more rounded, unlike the made in China models which cut off the toe caps in a straight line. The soles are different, made ultra light, with two of the panel parts dyed red. The eyelets on this model have been painted white, instead of the traditional silver or metal grey color.

The Reform has two red panels in the sole. Close up of the Chuck Taylor signature.

The Chuck Taylor Reform also comes in a low cut model.

Outside view of a right black/red Chuck Taylor Reform low cut shoe.

Check out these new comic print high tops featuring Superman and Batman. All the shoes feature canvas uppers with screenprint graphics. The Superman high top is a red and white print on the inside panel of each shoe and a red, blue, and black print on the outside. The interior is blue. On the outside, the canvas print shows a picture of Superman. The inside patch side has a 3D Superman logo in red. On the tongue of the shoe is the word Superman. The basic shoe is a white canvas high top with white shoelaces. The ankle patch is black and red. The interior is royal blue.

From Krypton to Converse. Clark Kent’s alter ego boldly goes on the All Star sneaker in this Converse and DC Comics collaboration.

There are two Batman high top prints on black canvas. On the black and blue model, the canvas uppers feature a multipaneled blue print of Batman images. The inside patch is black and white. The tongue of each shoe has a Batman logo. The interior is black with yellow print. This model comes with white shoelaces.

Caped Crusader. DC Comics and Converse join forces to fight the powers of evil with the new Batman Chuck Taylor sneakers.

The caped crusader pounds the pavement. The caped vigilante is out to stop evil in this Converse and DC Comics collaboration.

Over the years, we have seen an opera, numerous musicals, and plays where characters wear chucks as part of their costuming. But would you ever expect to see Shakespearean actors wearing high tops chucks during a performance?

That's exactly what the Reduced Shakespeare Company does. The three man group from the UK puts on a comedy review where they claim to present all of Shakespeare's works (abridged) in a single evening performance. During their performance they wear Elizabethan costumes but their footwear is black, pine green, and maroon high top chucks. Their performance is a great spoof on the works of Shakespeare involving audience participation, and funny bits like presenting Othello as a rap song and Titus Andronicus as a cooking show.

Their chucks are actually a very good choice of footwear for their performance which includes a lot of running around and pratfalls. Acorn Media has put their show out on a DVD which you can purchase from their website at www.acornmedia.com.

Adam Long, Reed Martin, and Austin Tichenor are the actors of the Reduced Shakespeare Company.