Friday Flashback CONS React training shoes, plus a plea for JJ Barea's shoes.

Hello world, welcome to the Friday Flashback here at the Converse Blog.  But before we get to the post I want to give a shout out to JJ Barea.  Last night JJ Barea put a impressive 17 points 5 Assist and 2 Rebounds.  I can only hope that Converse is gearing up for a quickstrike release of Barea's Star Player EVO low top shoes, interest in the shoes will possibly never be higher. 

Now onto the Friday Flashback....

React React React React React

I'm not sure of the name of these shoes, so if you happen to know please pass on the knowledge.  However, as you can probably tell these shoes came out in the early 90's.  Wild design and the Chevron in Star logo that defined the React era.  Hope you enjoy!!!

 Thanks for checking out the blog and remember to follow along on twitter @TheConverseBlog and on Facebook too.

Welcome back to The Converse Blog with Nylon Trainer 75

Well this has taken much longer then I ever anticipated, but I'm finally back. I never realized how easy it was to get out of the habit of doing something, even something you enjoy.  Regardless, the Converse Blog is back in action.  To start things of I want to bring your attention to the Converse Nylon Trainer 75.  Much like previous re-issued Converse shoes, the Trainer 75 is an extremely close reproduction of the original.  You can find them at Converse.com

Hopefully, in the next few days there will be some information about new additions to team Converse in the NBA.  Keep your eyes peeled.  As always you can follow along for breaking news on twitter @TheConverseBlog.  Thank you all for your patience with the blog, check back for more updates.

The Converse Blog's Friday Flashback: Chany He: Helium Skate Shoe.

There has been all kinds of stuff going on the last few days. I've been emailed pics from the Open Gym in Philly, there is a new Converse contest with Eastbay, plus I am working on something new for the blog. However, all of that will have to wait, at least for today. Why? Because today is Friday, and Friday's are for Flashbacks. Today's Flashback is the Chaney He: These were the only Converse Helium skate shoes that were released, and they were signature shoes for Chany Jeanquenin.


The first colorway, is the black/blue/grey colorway. These actually are in my collection, although I've never been a skateboard. As you can see in the heel area, Converse Helium provided the cushioning for these.

They also featured Converse ABS, which to best of my memory was a technology used make the materials more durable. This was applied to the cage looking material on the outer side of these shoes. Below are the two other colorways that were released. I am extremely jealous of anyone that has the White/Blue colorway. I always thought they looked the best.

You can see the Helium logo on outsole of this shoe here. The logo is combination of C for Converse and He: for the periodic table's symbol for Helium.



Here is a Converse for the Chaney He:
Skate Commercial for Converse featuring Chany, Felix, and Kenny


Before I sign off for today, I want to talk about Converse Helium. This is by far my favorite Converse technology. I still say to this day the best basketball shoe I've ever had was the Converse He:01. Converse Helium really came at a terrible time for Converse, in the 99-01 range in which the company fell into bankruptcy.

To me, Converse Helium had the most potential to take Converse to the next level. At the time when Converse Helium was announced, Basketball, Training, Running, and Skate shoes were promised. I even went as far as to pre-order a pair of the running shoes from Hibbit's. However, the running shoes were all canceled except one pair. The training shoes never came out here in America and the skate team died out shortly after. Basketball was the only catagory to continue on the Helium line. It was two years after the initial release before Helium found its way to a Converse team shoe.

I've always wanted to see a full length Converse Helium shoe would look and perform. Hopefully someday Converse Helium will return. Until then, I'll have to live in the past, and in what could've been. Thanks for stopping in, please take a second to vote on the way out.

The Converse Blog's Friday Flashback: Poll Winner Editon

The month long Poll has ended at the top of the page and the winner is Running/Training with 28% of the votes. So in honor of the win, today's Flashback is a Running/Training shoe. However this shoe is void of a tradional Converse logo. I don't even have a name on this one, so maybe one of you out there could help me out.





I am not even sure when they came out. My guess is the 70's, but that doesn't really narrow it down. They're in a classic yellow/navy colorway. On the side where the Chevron and Star would go is just a turned up Chevron, or as some people call it a V. Probably for the V in conVerse.

Like I said before, I don't really know much about these, so any information any of you have would be great. Thanks for checking out the Converse Blog. Also, as a Dolphins Fan, I've got to say Go Giants!

Happy Converse Century!

Well I just got in from Nashville and I wanted to post a Happy New Years post. Well actually a Happy Converse Century, as the celebration begins today. I've added a poll at the top here, I've got it set to run through the month. Converse currently makes Basketball, Cheerleading, and Skateboarding shoes. I want to know what other sport shoes you want to see them make, Running/Training, Football, Baseball, Soccer, Golf, or Other.

I want to thank everyone that has stopped by the Blog, emailed me, left comments, or spread the word about the Converse Blog. I truly hope you enjoy the new year and the Converse Century.

Best wishes to you and yours,
James Martin

Converse NCAA's Friday Flashback: Arizona

Hello and welcome to another edition of Converse NCAA's Friday Flashback. Today I was having a really hard time picking which shoe to feature. I kept thinking about it while I was trying to read for my East Asia to 1800 history class. Then I thought about how nice it was that I no longer have class on Friday. It's awesome story how that happened but I won't go into here, let me just say that God is good. So I was thinking about going for a walk later on and then I thought about doing a running shoe for today's post. Which leads us to...

Converse NCAA's Friday Flashback:

The Converse Arizona

With a name that seems more fitting for a battle ship I was interested in trying figure out the reason for the name. However I was unable to find this information and so we'll have to use our imagination. At first glance this is a pretty simple looking jogging/training shoe. It's got suede in the ankle and heel areas and also in part of the toe cap. Then it appears to have mesh throughout the rest of the shoe.

Then as you'll see below the shoe really seems to come alive with the outsole, which I must admit seems rare. To me the best part about the outsole is that it obviously has a purpose for being designed in such a way. The heel and forefoot areas make the most sense to me. The pods, for lack of a better term, are gathered around particular strike areas. The heel has the largest grouping with a heel stabilizing bar for good measure. Then the pods get wider almost like ovals in the forefoot were the ball of your foot would strike and the push off.

However, I am not quite sure of the reason to place certain pods in the midfoot where the arch of your foot is. My best guess is so that the shoe did not completely sink in the midfoot while still providing cushion and return in more populous pod areas. If anyone has any ideas on this please post.

A few years ago Converse re-issued a shoe called the Arizona Racer, however upon further review I don't think it was based on this shoe. Which means there could have been at least one other shoe with the Arizona tag. This re-issued shoe also featured the pods, but they were place all over outsole. So I am guessing that the Arizona line of running, jogging, or training shoes all had these pods on the outsoles.

Well that's all for today, I wish I had some more pictures, maybe I can find some more. Enjoy your Labor Day weekend. Watch a lot of college football and eat lots of grilled meats. Thanks for reading Converse NCAA's Friday Flashback.

Converse Training Shoes?

About once a week I go and surf through TaoBao, and with simplified Chinese it's pretty hard to read anything. So a lot of times it's just dumb luck that I stumble on something interesting. Last night I hit a personal goldmine. It has been a dream of mine since I began obsession for the brand to return to it's former glory and product range. This means Football, Baseball, Soccer, Tennis, Running, Skating, Golf, and Training.

Over the past few years, in different ways, there has supposedly been plans to return to Running and Training shoes. The most prominent was from a release on Converse's plans to file for an IPO, here is a excerpt below and here is the summary

"We plan to launch a full line of sports performance basketball products in
2003 and cross training and running shoes in 2004 and 2005,respectively."

Now we all know that never happened. Granted there were a limited number of Running Shoes that had the now dropped ICON technology. Only problem is that none of these shoes were released in America, at least to my knowledge.

For over a year now Converse has had a job opening in the design department for men's Training focus. This is a job I would love to have, but alas I don't think I've had the correct schooling.

All of this rambling brings me to my discovery.

This sample appears to be a cross training shoe, at least to me. It doesn't seem to fit the mold of a typical Lifestyle shoe, but I am not completely sold on it's cross training status. However it is the closest thing to a training shoe I've seen from Converse in a really long time. The only exception could be the low top versions of the Wade 1.0 and the Wade 2.0.

By this picture of the heel area I feel strongly that this is not a Lifestyle shoe, but certainly a cross training shoe or low top basketball shoe. The red square tap appears to add extra flexibility to the heel area, similar the heel tap areas in recent Basketball releases. Also in the amount ventilation holes in the toe box area suggest a design for more active use. If you know anything about these drop me an email or leave some feedback and let me know.