CONVERSE À LA MOD

When it comes to shoe projects, Converse All Stars is a brand we love to mod. Originally created in 1917 as basketball shoes, “Chucks” (nicknamed after hoops star Chuck Taylor) quickly became one of the most popular shoe brands of all time. It’s their playful shape, easy-to-cut canvas, accessibility, and relative low cost that make these sneakers the most fun to hack. So try the following fabric swap and knitted Chuck projects and consider yourself a Converse crafter.

THE ALL STAR

FABRIC SWAP

Restyle your classic Chucks with simple sewing and shoe glue. BY TOM W YATT

Photography by Sam Murphy

Ibought my first pair of All Stars about a year ago and wore them almost constantly, until they finally fell apart. In the end it was only my girlfriend’s nagging (and eventually her putting them in the bin) that tore them away from me.

All my Converse sneakers eventually fall apart in the same way — the fabric in the back rips away from the sole, but the rubber itself is fine. Shortly

after realizing this, I rescued a pair from the rubbish and started pulling them apart, trying to work out how I could create a pattern for them with new fabric. Here’s what I came up with.

 

Tom Wyatt is a 26-year-old I T engineer who enjoys pulling things apart and occasionally putting them back together again. He recently branched out to fabric.