Converse (The Shoe Company) also made tires – Jalopnik

Did you know that Converse used to make shoes for your car? The company behind the star logo lace-ups also made tires at some point in its life. There have been several crossovers between the fashion and automotive industries that you may be familiar with, such as Gucci’s 2012 edition, the Fiat 500 or Ferrari’s line of high-fashion clothing, but Converse’s ties to the automotive world predate time.

When it was founded in 1908, Converse (originally known as the Converse Rubber Company) specialized in a variety of high-rubber content products, including rubber rain and hunting boots, as well as automobile tires and other goods. Other rubber manufacturers also dipped their toes in both industries at the time, including Converse competitors Goodyear and Goodrich, but they’ve since found their respective niches – in fact, Goodrich sold his shoe designs to Converse before leaving the sneaker business, and Converse’s abandonment of the tire industry is evident in the fact that they went all-in on basketball shoe production in the 1920s.

The trend for companies specializing in rubber production in the early 20th century appears to be a jack-of-all-trades approach. Converse, like many of its competitors, produced a wide range of rubber products, including multiple types of rubber shoes, as well as tires – until it became master of one particular product. In 1917, Converse released the product it is most known for in today’s economy: the canvas high-top All Star Converse with rubber soles, designed specifically for basketball. At the time, it was a simple move to keep employees working during the summer, as the other products were manufactured from fall through spring. But after Converse hired former basketball star Chuck Taylor to market the sneakers in 1921, the shoes exploded in popularity and Converse began to dominate the athletic shoe scene. Currently, more than 550 million pairs of Chucks have been produced.

But what happened to the tires? Well, considering that Converse and its many competitors produced a range of rubber products in the pre-digital era, the exact destination(s) of its tires appear to be poorly documented. It seems no one really knows exactly which cars originally got Converse’s tires and whether they still produce them today – a quick Google search of “Does Converse still make tires?” unveils a company called Converse Tire, but the website is not currently operational (which could indicate the company isn’t either) and its relationship to Converse as the shoemaker we know today is unclear. In any case, the timely success of its basketball shoe in a competitive rubber industry seems as good a reason as any to specialize and move away from car shoe production.