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Outside the entrance to Converse’s world headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts, hangs the latest advertisement for the oldest shoe brand in basketball history.
The life-size poster features Oklahoma City Thunder star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been the face of Converse in the NBA since 2020. The brand’s latest campaign features mirror images of the SGA standing back to back in two different colorways. The same shoe, Converse, is a model of his weapon.
“People are probably thinking, ‘Why now?'” said Brodrick Foster, Converse’s director of product merchandising in charge of releasing limited-edition footwear. “But we think, ‘Why not?'”
On February 8th, the Nike division announced that, inspired by the original “Choose Your Weapon” ad that featured Larry Bird and Magic Johnson as part of their 1986 debut performance, “Create History, Not Hype” The company launched a campaign titled “Do” and brought back the classic shoes. basketball sneakers. There is one notable difference between the ads, which are nearly 40 years apart. In the throwback, Bird and Johnson wear basketball uniforms. Today, SGA is rocking streetwear.
That’s because for the first time in the brand’s history, Converse Weapon will be officially marketed primarily to athletes as a lifestyle sneaker rather than a performance model. The re-envisioned shoe will be released before the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, where the 25-year-old SGA player will be a starter in the All-Star Game for the first time. Fittingly, this weapon first debuted during his 1986 All-Star weekend in Indianapolis.
“We said, ‘Hey, no one’s going to wear this on a basketball court.’ Those days are gone,” Foster recalled. “So how do we launch this from a fashion perspective and to show consumers how it can really be styled?”
Over the past few years, Foster and the Converse product team have worked to perfect the Weapon’s famous silhouette to its original specifications from the 1986 model, while refining materials to improve everyday lifestyle comfort.
“The shoes we were wearing at the time had a lot of cement in them and didn’t have any real cushioning,” Foster says. “We wanted to create a foam that was as lightweight as possible. We also looked at a lot of running foam to make it more comfortable. And because you’re just actually pouring out some of the rubber, it puts less strain on your foot.” is not that big.”
The process of reviving this weapon began two years ago with a random request from an unexpected collaborator, international fashion designer Rick Owens, to use the shoe as a canvas for a modern design. .
“We started this journey with Rick Owens, this amazing fashion house, and we were like, ‘We want to try arms,'” Foster said. “The shoes had been on the ice for quite some time.”
“When we launched Rick Owens’ TURBOWPN, that started a conversation with consumers,” Foster said. “We started hearing from influencers as well. So we thought, ‘Maybe there’s something here.'”
Following the success of TURBOWPN, Converse has launched a series of Weapon collaborations in 2023 with acclaimed streetwear brands, from Fragment to Undefeated to Kasina. Converse will also bring back the 1986 OG silhouette in early 2024. The brand specifically identified his SGA as the featured headliner for his upcoming Weapon campaign, especially as both his player and style profile have seen a parallel rise throughout his past two NBA seasons. .
“One of the things Shai said when we were working on the weapon was, ‘Be reliable,'” Foster recalled. “At SGA, we love vintage, so we said, ‘Imagine going to a garage sale, finding a pair of shoes, and the yellow is cracked. Keep that idea going.'” So from there it was, ‘If I’m going to do this, what do I need to spend my time doing? “It was that kind of feeling. ”
First, Foster and the product team took a quick trip to C4 (the “Converse Concept Creation Center”), which operates out of a nondescript building in Boston less than a mile from the brand’s headquarters. Hard to find In his two-room space, Sam Smallridge says he works as an archivist for the 116-year-old brand and collects Converse artifacts (mostly previously released sneakers and game-worn sneakers). Responsible for locating, cataloging, and storing all new sneakers.
“The team spent two days with our archivist, Sam, going through basically every iteration of the weapon that we’ve ever done,” Foster said. “This shoe went through many iterations. Several athletes wore different outsoles and gear. So it was like, ‘Which one is the original?’
From the historic briefing, Converse focused on two specific elements of the revived weapon’s design, including its surrounding shape. The brand wanted to develop the optimal “last”, the final mold used for mass production of the shoe, and create the sharpest toe box, or toe box, of the shoe. After about 20 iterations using 10 different lasts, Converse finally perfected what the brand considers to be the most accurate recreation of his 1986 model.
“We spent a lot of time on this version of our arsenal. Previously, we never were as obsessed with every detail as we are with this one: the storytelling, the launch method, the color blocking, the embodiment of the shoe.” said Foster. “This iteration is the closest to the original.”
The finishing touch for Converse’s 2024 Weapon was achieved by choosing the perfect leather. The brand’s product team tested a variety of leather and synthetic materials, examining leather and synthetic materials in multiple shoes, from the Nike Air Force One to the Air Jordan 1 to the New Balance 550. In the latest version of this weapon, Converse used a leather called “Verissimo”.
“We have upscaled a lot of the leather,” Foster says. “So that it looks nice and buttery.”
Exactly one year ago, as he prepared for his first All-Star Game appearance, SGA took to the court wearing an early version of the reimagined Converse Weapon, but only for practice.
“During the last NBA All-Star game, I asked Shai, ‘How hard did you work? Do you think you can play among them?’ He said, ‘Yes.’
“We don’t recommend it, but you could probably play in the quarters. At the time, this was a performance shoe, and it was so crazy.”
In 2024, Converse Weapon is a lifestyle shoe, appearing on the feet of the NBA’s highest-flying player and on posters featuring him.
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