Welcome to the Future, Chuck!

You may recall a while back how I was talking about the new Converse sneaker design changes... Unfortunately the two pair of traditional Chucks give me such bad knee pain that I end up limping for weeks in recovery.

Don't get me wrong; I love them both. They are designed for the standard North American foot which is narrower and has a much higher arch than the standard Asian foot. They fit my feet perfectly. I actually am a "perfect 10" when it comes to shoes. Europen shoes don't fit me as well as the NA ones.and the Japanese shoes, although of excellent quality, arew designed for flipper-footed Japanese with wide heels and thick feet. I have never bought a pair of Japanese shoes that have fit. Not true... Mizuno volleyball shoes I used in the gym for many years were a perfect fit, but apparently they are not popular among Japanese due to their narrow fit. Fancy that. Even the NA brands that are made for the Japanese market are EEE size and they do not fit me at all. I am a 10D.

The new Chuck Taylor Converse have been dramatically improved in one big respect: there is a removable sports insole designed into them. This makes a HUGE difference as the traditional Chucks are very flat and very hard. They have next to no cushion in them at all. This is what kills my knees.

Also, if you think of most other shoes, whether for sports, leisure or dress there is some slight to large rise/inclination in the heel. The only shoes I can think of that are not like that are cheap flipflops and Jesus Sandals. Other than that, I have never owned a totally flat pair of shoes. Except for my Beloved Chucks. And I have never had the kind of knee pain I started experiencing except for while wearing my Beloved Chucks. I can wear them for short jaunts, but if I am out doing any walking, like yesterday ootnaboot for six hours, I have to live with a week of knee aches.

Although I don't need another pair of runners, the frustratingly reprodicible knee pain in my Beloved Chucks combined with my great curiosity to experiment with the newly engineered Chucks-with-insole (note: these are not just an insole added as an afterthought to the old design, but designed to have one built in properly and still fit) led me to purchase this pair of six-coloured Japan-only models and see what would happen!

I spent the entire day walking in these yesterday, and you know what? Knee pain begone! This morning I was worried about waking up and having to limp over to the dresser to put on my new and uber sexy yet oh so retro popart designed (artist collaborated) BWs, but there was not a single twinge at all.

I must say I am veritably impresses with the change in fit with the new insoles, not to mention the great six-colour design on these babies.

If you are in the market for a new pair of Chucks, and you can find a design that suits your fancy, I highly recommend you give these newly designed, technologically modernized Converse Chuck Taylors a try. They are different.

My guess is that little by little they will be fazing out the old manufacturing and building the new technology into all of their great retro designs. In fact you may not even realize it but you might be wearing one of the newly-engineered models right now! Want to know a quick way to check? Reach down and run your fingers over the ALL STAR logo on the heel; if you can feel the logo raised off the label, you are wearing the new design. Apparently this is another engineering change they recently did. The old printed rubber labels wore off too easily so they chose to make them out of a mould in bas-relief. There was one more subtle engineering/design change they made but I cannot recall it at this moment.

And that is it for the Chuck Taylor Converse All Star talk that I had been wondering if I would ever be able to do.

The price? They are a bit more expensive than the old models but not inhibitively so. As you likely know there are so many different models and designs out there now (it seems that they are really good at innovation and design and now they are owned by Nike they have the marketing power to go with it) and the prices are all different, so before you turn your nose up at a pair that is more expensive but looks exactly the same as the cheaper ones, take a closer look. You may be paying more for the newer tecnology and not just the design.

Have a great weekend.
I love you!

Cam

P.S. Look in the background... is that necktie awesome or what!?! I should get it and wear it to work... to push limits. Just for fun.