Converse

Founded in 1908 by Marquis Mills Converse in Malden, Massachusetts, the Converse Rubber Shoe Company started out as a specialist in winterised rubber-soled shoes and boots. Converse’s Chuck Taylor All Star boasts as colourful a history as the brand’s rainbow range of shoes. A masterpiece of utilitarian design, with its sleek lines and textured contrast of canvas and vulcanized rubber, the trainer’s black-and-white beginnings were rooted in basketball.