Converse

Converse introduces the All Star, one of the world's first basketball shoes. The company signs agreements with Moon-Star Chemical Corp., Mizuno Corp., and Zett Corp. to handle the manufacture, distribution, and sale of Converse footwear in Japan. The company is named the official shoe of the National Basketball Association. Converse Inc. is the largest manufacturer of athletic footwear in the United States, producing approximately 8.4 million pairs of shoes domestically in 1998. It owns and operates a manufacturing facility in Lumberton, North Carolina, where it produces the majority of its athletic originals, and leases manufacturing plants in Mission, Texas and Reynosa, Mexico. The Converse All-Star basketball shoe was the first in the athletic footwear industry, and by the early 1990s, more than 500 million pairs, in more than 56 colors and styles, had been sold in more than 90 countries worldwide. In addition, the company has diversified into varied rubber products, sports apparel, and full lines of athletic shoes for tennis, cross-training, team sports, running, walking, and children's recreation. The origins of Converse Inc. date back to 1908, when Marquis M. Converse founded the Converse Rubber Company in Malden, Massachusetts with a capital investment of $250,000. Converse had gained extensive retail experience as a general manager of one of Boston's largest department stores and at Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Co. He started his own firm after Beacon was absorbed by U.S. Rubber, and, within a year of its founding, the Converse Rubber Company had integrated 350 employees into a full-production team in a new plant. By 1910, the company had expanded its plant to produce 4,000 pairs of boots and rubbers daily. The young company experienced a dramatic increase in sales after its 1917 introduction of the Converse canvas All Star, one of the world's first basketball shoes. The game of basketball was then in its infancy, having been invented by James Naismith in 1891 at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School. All Star's rapid success was spurred by the reputation and marketing savvy of basketball star Charles 'Chuck' H. Taylor, who joined the Converse sales force in 1921 to become the brand's first player endorser. In a town outside of Columbus, Indiana, Taylor had graduated from high school to a career in basketball. After playing for barnstorming basketball teams, including the Buffalo Germans and the Akron Firestones, Taylor joined Converse's Chicago sales office in 1921. He traveled around the country selling the shoe and promoting basketball in clinics. In 1968, a year before his death, Taylor was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. The original Converse Rubber Company soared beyond the scope of its 1908 designs until 1929 when it fell into bankruptcy. Control of the company then passed on to Mitchell B. Kaufman, who had been president of Hodgman Rubber Company since 1925. After Kaufman's untimely death a year later, his successor, Albert Wechsler, operated the company for the Kaufman estate until 1933, when a depressed economy and reduced profits prompted yet another change in command. The 1933 purchase of the company by the Stone family began a 39-year period of family ownership during which time Converse became a market leader. After providing protective footwear, special-purpose boots, parkas, and other equipment for the American Armed Services during World War II, the Stones concentrated on rapid growth in a civilian market. In 1946 the company's Granite State Division in New Hampshire began operating two large plants. In 1953 Converse established the Coastal Footwear Corporation in Canovanas, Puerto Rico. Converse brand lines were further expanded with the 1961 acquisition of the Tyer Rubber Company and the 1964 acquisition of the Hodgman brand of sporting goods equipment. The company also opened a new factory in Presque Isle, Maine in 1967 and purchased the Bristol man