I was pointed to the Converse One site by the awesomely good ad blog from the UK by Amelia Torode. I enjoyed fooling around around with the design tool and I created some deliciously ugly sneakers which you can view here. (You could also purchase them for me if your little heart desired...husband...Thomas, are you paying attention?) The design interface is a little wonky and I know the design-your-own thing isn't new - but to design my own Chuck's - the sneaker of my childhood, that's marketing I can love. That's engaging me with the brand - and not in a way that feels wrong.
I am a Boston native, I grew up just one town over from the Converse Rubber factory in Malden, Massachusetts. Every year before the new school season, my mother would bring her four kids to the outlet store for brand new "Chuck Taylor whites". I remember her shock when the outlet price for seconds went to $3.00 a pair (no, I am not a hundred years old.) The Converse brand was seared in to my mind at a young age. They were the sneakers, because they were the only sneakers. It wasn't until my family moved to Colorado in the mid-1970s that I knew anything about "tennis shoes" and that was because the kids there didn't know what sneakers were. I got my first Nike swoosh sneakers in 1978 - they were court shoes and they were the things most like my beloved Chucks. My college punk rock days brought back Chucks in a big way - I had them in every color. When I cleared out my attic for a yard sale two years ago a couple of local high school girls fell in love with the purple and pink high tops and the thoroughly shredded and unwearable black high tops - a circle of life thing I guess. 
The history of Converse is really interesting. Chuck Taylor was a traveling salesman for Converse and an early basketball, if not outright brand evangelist (That was for you, Jackie Huba.) Chuck went on the road to conduct basketball clinics (and sell a lot of shoes) and spread the good word about the game of basketball (and sell a lot of shoes.) He was an innovator - responsible for the seamless basketball (did you know that?) and during WWII was appointed as a fitness consultant for the U.S. Army (and the G.I.s ended up wearing All-Stars.)
The fine folks at Sneakerhead.com have a great history on Converse - a little myth, a little marketing, but totally worth a read. Converse struggled during the late 1970s and 1980s and in 2001 filed for bankruptcy protection. Nike bought the brand in 2003 and after wandering a bit has figured out how to use the best parts of the legend. The new Converse ads are slicked up and look like Nike ads featuring up and coming basetball players I have never heard of. But even those ads haven't put me off the brand. They have expanded the line to include all kinds of clothing and really cool shoes created by innovative designers. Shoes I want. I like that. A brand I loved a kid, struggled, got bought, and the new company didn't ruin it. How often does that happen? Examples please.
Paul: I can't remember where I left my car keys, but I distinctly remember the first pair of sneakers that were "other" than what I'd worn my whole life.
Luke: I like the possibilities in RGB sneakers, maybe an entire Art Director's Line... It was warm on the day I created mine, so I may have been feeling a little "Florida."
Jackie: Chuck's rule!
Posted by: Lori Magno | March 17, 2007 at 10:18 AM
I didn't realize you were a Chucks girl. Great story!
Posted by: Jackie Huba | March 17, 2007 at 03:48 AM
Very nice choice, Lori. I would have preferred RGB though.
Posted by: lukeMV | March 16, 2007 at 08:56 AM
Dude, I can't believe you remember what year you got your first pair of swoosh sneakers. I can barely remember what I wore to work today. Jeez. It is pretty incredible what converse has been able to do in the past couple years, largely in very subtle ways. Good stuff all around...
Posted by: Paul McEnany | March 15, 2007 at 12:52 AM