By Sam Galanis
If you’ve ever owned a pair of Chuck Taylors, then you know that they’re some of the most uncomfortable sneakers on the market. But Converse is about to do something about its basketball shoe.
Converse will release the Chuck Taylor II, a more comfortable version of its wildly popular original, on July 28. Nike, which is Converse’s parent company, helped update the sneaker by adding its cushioned Lunarlon interior to the classic exterior and making the shoe lighter.
The company gave a sneak preview of the Chuck Taylor II (see here and here), which comes in four colors of high-tops and low-tops, on Thursday.
Converse still will sell its original Chuck Taylors, and the new ones are expected to retail starting at around $80. They’re more expensive — regular Chucks start around $50 — but NPD Group sports industry analyst Matt Powell thinks customers will be happy.
“If it has a wow factor when you put it on, and it doesn’t look that different from the outside, it probably won’t be hard to convert some customers,” Powell told The Boston Globe on Tuesday. “There’s also an opportunity to win over a whole new customer who might not have considered a Chuck Taylor because of comfort in the past.”
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