100 Years of Converse

The Grand Rapids Press had a nice article on the 100th anniversary of Converse.

I love Converse! (I have 4 pair, but my immediate family has about 10 pair.)

Timeline

It's a rare shoe that has popped up in pop culture as much as the Converse All Star. Chuckies have been loved equally by athletes and musicians, bad boys (grunge king Kurt Cobain wore them to the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards) and good girls (young Abigail Breslin wore them in 2006's "Little Miss Sunshine").
Here's a look at how the enduring rubber-toe sneakers got their start.
1908 -- Converse Rubber Shoe Co. opens in Malden, Mass.
1915 -- Converse begins production of canvas shoes.
1917 -- The first Converse All Star emerges from the factory.
1918 -- Basketball player Charles "Chuck" Taylor laces up his first pair of All Star Sneakers.
1921 -- Taylor pitches some ideas on improving the shoes to Converse.
1930s -- Taylor contributes his signature to the sneakers.
1939 -- Taylor's shoes make it on both teams in the NCAA basketball championship game.
1962 -- The low-cut All Star debuts.
1966 -- Leaping from black and white to living color, Converse introduces seven new All Star hues.
1973 -- Johnny Carson sports black Chucks on the "Tonight Show" while his guest, Brazilian soccer player Pele, demonstrates ball-handling skills.
1977 -- Members of the British band the Sex Pistols regularly are seen in their All Star sneakers, giving the shoes some street cred as a punk accessory.
1984 -- The U.S. Men's Olympic basketball team wins gold while wearing Converse.
1992 -- More than 500 million pairs of All Star sneakers have been sold by the shoe's 75th anniversary.
2003 -- Nike purchases Converse, which had been losing ground to burgeoning competition.
2005 -- Converse launches the Dwyane Wade shoe, its first signature basketball shoe since the Chuckies debuted.
2008 -- Converse celebrates its 100th anniversary.

SOURCE: Converse Inc.