Converse is an American footwear brand founded in 1908 by Marquis Mills Converse as the Converse Rubber Shoe Company, initially producing rubber-soled footwear before shifting to athletic shoes in 1915 [1]. The brand’s visual identity has evolved through at least seven distinct logo changes over more than a century, with the five-pointed star as its most persistent symbol [2].
Design and History
The star first appeared on the Chuck Taylor All Star ankle patch in 1928, replacing an earlier design that featured the letter “C” [3]. The ankle patch itself was originally attached for ankle protection during basketball play, and the star mark became the symbol of the All Star line [3]. Over the following decades, the patch design changed at least seven times, with the “Chuck Taylor” name added in 1946 and the current base design completed in 1962 [3].
In 1963, Converse established its first official combined logo featuring a five-pointed star with lowercase lettering [2]. The star chevron, a five-pointed star combined with a V-shaped arrow, debuted in the mid-1970s on the All Star Pro Leather basketball shoe [4]. The star chevron appeared on popular models including the Pro Leather and CONS Weapon [5].
In 1977, Converse redesigned its logo again, placing the star inside a rounded black square and switching the wordmark from lowercase to bold uppercase lettering, with the letter “n” remaining lowercase [2]. This version remained in use until 2003 [6].
In July 2017, Converse introduced a new brand identity led by Adam Cohn, Vice President of Global Brand Design [7]. The redesign replaced the previous wordmark, which had a star inside the letter “O”, with the star chevron placed above a refreshed wordmark [7]. The motivation came from the company’s new purpose statement: “Converse exists to serve the daring spirit of youth with tools that enable movement(s)” [7]. The parenthetical “s” was intentional, referring to both physical activity and cultural change [7].
In December 2022, ahead of the brand’s 115th anniversary in 2023, Converse updated its logo again, returning the black star to the center of the letter “O” in the wordmark [6]. The new wordmark closely resembles the 1977 to 2003 version, with refined details: rounded corners between strokes were reduced, the “O” features a star embedded in a rounded rectangular block, and the horizontal stroke of the letter “R” was removed entirely [6]. The star chevron symbol was removed from the primary identity [2].
Meaning and Symbolism
The star chevron was chosen in 2017 as a graphic representation of the brand’s mission to enable movement, both physical and cultural [7]. Cohn stated that the star chevron had been in use since the 1970s and was selected to leverage an icon from the brand’s heritage that also represented moving forward [8]. The 1963 logo’s five-pointed star was described as symbolizing excellence and high quality [2].
Typography and Design
The 2017 wordmark was created as a hybrid of four or five past Converse logo versions, drawing heavy influence from the 1920s and 1930s when heavyweight, approachable sans-serif fonts were common [7]. Cohn explained that the Converse word had been written in many different ways over time, and the design process involved “mining details” from the archive [7]. The 2022 update refined the letterforms further, reducing rounded corners between strokes and simplifying the “R” [6].
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