When I started skating Nicky Guerrero was one of the most visible skaters on this planet and he was skating for Converse, skating vert in normal Chucks (Chuck Taylor all star canvas shoes, not skate shoes). I don't know how. I have never owned a pair of Chucks, but my friends at the time did. And just from walking around those shoes seemed to fall apart quite quickly.
Almost a year ago - I only saw them recently - Converse came out with a Converse x Chocolate Skateboards collaboration shoe for their (AWESOME) team rider Kenny Anderson.
Kenny Anderson is a vegan himself (and a Las Vegan; also see here). And the "Converse x Chocolate CTAS Kenny Anderson" shoe (the only Converse x Chocolate collab shoe, I think) features:
- recycled canvas
- organic cotton laces
- no animal glues (no animal bones used; water-based glues tend to be vegan, I would assume (?))
- ollie rubber pad
- no leather used
- all vegan
- and a more skate-friendly padded insole than normal Chucks
- plant + hand logo stitching on the tongue
Kenny Anderson also had a Chocolate deck graphic with the same slogan as the Converse shoe: "Plant a seed, let it grow and pollinate." It's nice to see some really famous skateboarders who are vegan and try to nudge people into a little bit more awareness. Thank you, Kenny.
Converse made a promo video for the shoe in 2017, and Kenny Anderson does his job well in making these shoes look sweet and attractive. If I find them for cheap on ebay on any such place, I might just buy my first non skate shoe brand skate shoe ever (not counting Vans) one day.
If I understand correctly, this shoe was/is available as a black high-top, a white high-top or a pale yellow low-top. Note that the yellow colorway is a one-star.
Remember that brief period in the mid-nineties when Converse tried to make the Converse one star low-top suede or canvas shoe cool in the skate scene? (Completely irrelevant information but you can see the ads on skately).
Below: Kenny Anderson and the Converse x Chocolate CTAS Kenny Anderson canvas skate shoe
Converse or Chocolate also made some matching shirts with the hand + plant logo but that's as much Japanese as I understand.