Fuck you, Converse!

[korinna5555]

Originally Posted by Pineapple_Juice

What? You've just written "undead undead undead" on it over and over?

Ohhh.. yeah. Because that's SO artistic.

NO.

"white on white translucent black capes back on the rack the bats have left the bell tower the victims have been bled red velvet lines the black box the virginal brides file past his tomb strewn with time's dead flowers bereft in deathly bloom alone in a darkened room THE COUNT
BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD
UNDEAD
UNDEAD
UNDEAD"

THAT'S how I did it

[Stormtrooper of Death]

I'm not a sneakers guy in general, I wear my steel toed boots everywhere, mainly because they're really comfortable and thick soled.

[DefinedRapture]

I'm not a converse person. I'm souly a boot-based person. *2 cents*

[Opteron_Man]

I wore a pair with black canvis back in 8th grade. I loved those babies! They were actully my best friends and he need new ones. He gave me the old ones because I liked them. They did last sometime. I think I wore them out after he "wore" them out. I think I will buy a new pair soon. The footwear I normally wear are black 7 eyelet doc Martins, and a pair of polished old combat boots. I love my boots though. I can't go without them.

[Pineapple_Juice]

Originally Posted by korinna5555

Ohhh.. yeah. Because that's SO artistic.

NO.

"white on white translucent black capes back on the rack the bats have left the bell tower the victims have been bled red velvet lines the black box the virginal brides file past his tomb strewn with time's dead flowers bereft in deathly bloom alone in a darkened room THE COUNT
BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD
UNDEAD
UNDEAD
UNDEAD"

THAT'S how I did it

Owned. You win.

[NightmareInShiningArmour]

I have recently bought some Chuck's, completely black, rubber and all. I love them, they're pretyt comfy. My girlfriend loves them, she has like.. 7 pairs? and I thought I'd try em out. They look so cool.
The problem is, I'd love some "Goth-boots" as me and my friends refer to them (platforms) but I'm already 6ft. I'm supposed to grow to 6'4. I'll be freakishly tall if I get some platforms. Especially since all my friends are about 4" shorter than me at the moment anyway.

[Man In Room 5]

Reading this thread makes me feel old. I know converse are cool and have been cool for years but I still remember when they weren't cool. They were the cheap, plain shoes with no support that you bought out of the shit bin at Kmart for 5 dollars a pair in the 1970s. The price encouraged punks, skaters, and any other "weird" kids to buy more than one pair and mix and match the colors. Then converse realized the cool kids were doing this and suddenly the price started to go up while the shoe remained exactly the same. I've never owned a pair because I went with the boot look instead--so maybe I'm wrong--but every time I look at them I still see the $5 shoe with no support inside. Whenever I see that star logo on some "alternative" kid I just think of Sneetches .

[Minyaliel]

Gods, I faintly remember that too - my mother used to buy me that kind of shoes because we didn't have much money and they were cheap and looked alright in comparison to the alternatives. *smiles* I can't have been very old at the time, though...

[thekorupt]

I hate Converse anyway.

I went shoe shopping for my hubby. He has big feet (size 14) and he saw converses and was like OOOO OOOO! CONVERSE! he put them on, remembered how crappy the support in them is (ie nonexistent) and took them off. That was right before I ordered him to take them off when I saw the price ($48). Now, I am not cheap, by any means. I will pay top dollar for something I want, but $48 for the cheapest made shoe on the planet, short of Dollar Tree flip flops? And it isn't even THAT comfortable? And its ugly? AND ITS A CLICHE???

Ah, no.

And amen to the Sneetch comment, Man in room 5...

[Man In Room 5]

Minyaliel, I'm 38 so I was under 10 years old myself during that era but I remember it. I don't want to sound like I was better off in my childhood or anything but I remember my mother walking right past the bins of Converse in the isles without a second glance. We shopped at places like Kmart and Zayre for school clothing but she would never have considered buying Converse for us.

It's funny, but I just went and read the Wikipedia entry for Converse to make sure I was remembering right or that it wasn't just some local trend. It confirmed that they were in serious decline in the 1970s but it then jumps to the 2000s and never really explains how they made their comeback.

[Solumina]

Originally Posted by NightmareInShiningArmour

The problem is, I'd love some "Goth-boots" as me and my friends refer to them (platforms) but I'm already 6ft. I'm supposed to grow to 6'4. I'll be freakishly tall if I get some platforms. Especially since all my friends are about 4" shorter than me at the moment anyway.

I don't quite know what you mean by goth boots but I don't see how a small platform of 1-2 inches would make you too tall. Maybe you could link to a picture of what you're talking about.

[Wormboy]

Fuck Chucks. They're horridly uncomfortable, usually worn by people who like walking barefoot anyway, completely ugly, overly expensive considering how little effort and material costs should go into that shoe, and just overused. Seriously, anytime I see converse, I either think someone who's trying to be, "alternative" and failing fucking miserably, or just someone who doesn't give enough of a shit on how they look.

[Minyaliel]

Man [...] - oh. Well, might've been a cheap, German converse- lookalike thing, then. I don't remember the exact brand as I can't have been older than four years. But hey, it's not as if it really matters.

[Godslayer Jillian]

Originally Posted by Wormboy

Fuck Chucks. overly expensive considering how little effort and material costs should go into that shoe, and just overused. Seriously, anytime I see converse, I think someone who's trying to be, "alternative" and failing fucking miserably

I took off some things in your post because this way I agree with all of it.
I don't see chucks as being ugly. When they were extremely cheap, they were quite pretty for their affordability. But there's no point in buying them now that they cost as much as any other shoe.

And I almost fully agree with the "wannabe alternative" comment. Let's divide 'alternatives' into two kinds of people:
The shallow yet true alternatives that just want to be different.
And the actual alternatives that want a different world, so they're political even if they're not making that much sense (e.g. hippies and punks and grunges that like socialism)

By wearing Chucks, wannabe alternatives fail at both!
If they want to bullshit their way through the idiotic "just be yourself" mantra, they have just paid an obscene amount of money for mere footwear in having the same shoes as a dozen million other teens.
If they want to bullshit their to lifestylism and look all political and artsy and non-conformist, they have just contributed another $40 to fucking Nike.

On a related story about my life, my best friend is sort of an in-between of the two alternatives I mentioned. He gets involved with my organization and projects, although I'm not actually sure what his political ideals are, but he's in the bottom just a college artist with a social conscience. He wears Converse! I tell him he's helping Nike by buying them and he tells me he does not help McDonalds or Walmart, et cetera, so his indulgence in Chucks can be tolerated.
Usually, that logic would piss me off, but he's my best friend, and it's true, he's a more conscious consumer.



http://www.mitchclem.com/nothingnice/269/

[Man In Room 5]

Originally Posted by Minyaliel

A soldier with a broken arm, fixed his stare to the wheels of a Cadillac
A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest, and a queer threw up at the sight of that
~"Five Years", David Bowie

Jesus, I just noticed your sig line. That is the 1st time I've ever heard those lyrics correctly. I've never been able to understand that fucking line in almost 20 years of listening to Bowie. I always thought he said, "I saw you with a broken arm" and then mumbled something and ended with "queer threw up at the side effect". That's what I get for having blown out eardrums by the time I was 15.

[Minyaliel]

Hahaha, I must admit I looked it up.

[chelseagirl]

Didn't Nike buy out Doc Marten years ago too? lol, I don't even own a pair of sneakers, and haven't for many years.

[AngelikDemonik]

Originally Posted by Delkaetre

I don't wear converse, and I almost never buy *new* shoes or clothing- with the exception of handmade clothing like corsets and latex gear, where I can actually talk to the people who made it.
I get everything except underwear from charity shops and friends who are clearing out their wardrobes. And now I'm glad- while whatever I have may originally have been from a slave-labour brand, when I purchase it I put money towards a worthy cause instead.

I'm actually a bit paranoid of buying used shoes. I got a pair a very nice ankle boots that were brand new from a thrift store, but despite the fact that they were never worn, I used almost an entire bottle of disinfectant on them. They still have that lovely hospital scent to them.

[Bakiryu]

To be honest, I love converse. My family wasn't even in this country when they sold then at 5$ in K-mart or whatever.

Usually I don't wear shoes or just wear flip-flops, I can go barefoot all the year round.

That's why I love converse, they're just so comfortable.

I don't give a hoot about the alternative cred or whatever. My converse are not even real converse, just cheap airwalk converse knock-offs that I got for $12 at payless (my other pair was $5 at Walmarts).

I mean, they're nice but why the heck has Nike made them so pricey?!

[Bete Noire]

Has anyone got any links to UK sites where I could get converse knock-offs?

[Murasaki eyeliner]

Originally Posted by korinna5555

"white on white translucent black capes back on the rack the bats have left the bell tower the victims have been bled red velvet lines the black box the virginal brides file past his tomb strewn with time's dead flowers bereft in deathly bloom alone in a darkened room THE COUNT
BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD
UNDEAD
UNDEAD
UNDEAD"

THAT'S how I did it

me likey,please post a picture

btw im embroidering the siouxi lyrics on my obi tommorow,and you just reminded me that i need to get more silver thread,thanks

[Wormboy]

Originally Posted by Bakiryu

Usually I don't wear shoes or just wear flip-flops, I can go barefoot all the year round.

That's why I love converse, they're just so comfortable.

Told you so

Originally Posted by Murasaki eyeliner

me likey,please post a picture

btw im embroidering the siouxi lyrics on my obi tommorow,and you just reminded me that i need to get more silver thread,thanks

She left the site, don't hold your breath.

[Onyx Nightshade]

I'm not sure if mine predate or not. I bought them back in 2004 but I bought them from a secondhand store, so I'm not sure when the previous owner bought them. Nevertheless, I need a new pair because these are starting to look busted and I like to keep my shit nice and crisp. 3 or 4 years ago I wouldn't have given a shit about the capitalist machine that is Converse, but since I DO care, I will simply buy a knock-off pair from Payless or something.

[KontanKarite]

You see, that's the weird part.

I don't know what's worse, buying the Nike Converse shoe or buying the knock off in an attempt to still look alternative while not contributing to the Nike machine. Does an alternative shoe have to look like a converse?

[Godslayer Jillian]

As far as the individual is concerned, it is alright to buy a knock-off. You are not contributing to Nike in that way, although you do have to know where the knock-off is made or otherwise it could be an even less regulated sweatshop, ridiculous as that might sounds.
But in the bigger scale, wearing a shoe similar to Converse is still feeding the trend that makes Converse desirable. This also happens with vegans/vegetarians using faux leather.