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Home , Converse (shoe company), Jim Calhoun, PF Flyers, Skechers, Swoosh

CONVERSE CEO JIM CALHOUN HAS IGNITED AN INDUSTRY-WIDE BATTLE ROYAL. BUT IS ’S COOLEST COMPANY SHOOTING ITSELF IN THE FOOT? BY ZACHARY JASON

the last thing anyone at sales. So in 2011, when parent company Yet Calhoun saw a company that was ­Robert and John as his older brothers,” Cal- But that was far from ’s biggest the Great Depression. In that time, com- ➼ Converse’s North Andover - installed its rising star Jim Calhoun—son of still in peril. Employees—from sales clerks houn says. Nike executives rarely visited problem. An existential threat lurked in plain petitors had unleashed top-selling, space- quarters thought they needed was legendary University of Connecticut bas- to vice presidents—were insecure, apolo- Converse’s modest headquarters, forcing sight. A century into its storied history, it was age innovations, including ’s Pump, a new CEO. Relegated to the clearance bin ketball coach Jim Calhoun Sr.—employees getic, and suffering from an inferiority com- Calhoun to travel roughly once a month clear that Converse had only one sneaker to in 1989; ’s supportive Feet You Wear of the sneaker industry since the 1980s, the were quick to remind him that they’d just plex. Nike, a once-fledgling brand that had to the mother ship in Beaverton, , show for: The iconic All Star technology, in 1996; and Nike’s very own 107-year-old company had bounced back received the largest bonuses of their careers. bought the bankrupt Converse in 2003 for a for an exhaustive round robin of corporate accounted for more than 85 percent of the Lunarlon foam cushioning, in 2008, designed from bankruptcy and in 2010 was coming The message was clear: We’ve got a good song, was making Calhoun’s new colleagues sermons. “Every game,” he recalls, “was an company’s revenue. The product line was to mimic the way astronauts jump from the off a record year, with nearly $1 billion in thing here. Don’t screw it up. feel “how Ted Kennedy felt about having away game.” ancient and had barely been updated since moon “as if marshmallows.” Meanwhile,

104 BOSTON | DECEMBER 2015 PHOTOGRAPH BY TOAN TRINH BOSTONMAGAZINE.COM 105 ­market research showed Converse’s can- Standing atop Converse’s sleek new headquarters ­little-known sport that was beginning vas hurt people’s feet, and custom- overlooking the Zakim Bridge, CEO Jim Calhoun to catch on in the Northeast. He dubbed THE REBIRTH takes aim at the competition as he lifts the Chuck ers complained that the soles were about Taylor to new heights. his the Converse All OF COOL as supportive as stale sub rolls. On top of it Star, complete with a rubber toe cap How does a sneaker company all, Calhoun saw how dozens of big-name and bumper. For four years, sales succeed without sports? brands had for years been selling remained slow. Then, in 1921, a scrawny By emphasizing its creative- that looked nearly identical to the Chuck 20-year-old jump shooter from Indiana class cred. Taylor. It made Chucks the most imitated named Charles “Chuck” Taylor con- shoe in the world—and also cut deep into vinced Converse to hire him, minting Converse’s potential profits. the country’s first player endorsement. Each morning on his drive to work Taylor advised improvements on the from his home in Wellesley, Calhoun shoe’s ankle support and traction, and passed ’s sprawling new head- in 1932 the company stitched Taylor’s quarters along the Mass. Pike in Brighton. signature into the All Star heel patch. The campus, which is still being developed, The shoe barely changed for 80 years. will feature a sports complex, two residen- Over time, Converse became syn- tial towers, an office building, and its own onymous with basketball. Chucks MBTA commuter-rail station. The shin- were on the feet of the U.S. men’s team 1 ing behemoth was an immutable reminder when it won gold at the 1936 Olympics of the fierce sneaker competition not just in Nazi Berlin. wore here in ­Massachusetts—which Calhoun them the night he scored 100 points has dubbed “Sneaker Town, USA,” where in 1962, and by the mid-1960s, Con- the hometown teams include , verse comprised 80 percent of the Reebok, and North America—but­ sneaker industry. also around the globe. By the end of the 1970s, however, Calhoun looked at all of this and knew basketball sneakers had become a he had to make a change. Converse needed booming international business, a modern headquarters of its own, this and competitors such as Adidas, time in Boston. It needed a new shoe to ­Canton-based Reebok, Brighton-based 2 win fresh customers and bring back people New Balance, and Nike began to out- who had abandoned Chucks for cheaper, spend and bludgeon Converse into more comfortable knockoffs. Converse submission. Nike in particular seized needed youth; it needed new life. And the basketball market by paying col- it needed to get aggressive, not only to lege coaches unprecedented sums to remain a player in the $54-billion-a-year­ wear its sneakers. Then came Michael global sneaker game, but also to smother ­Jordan. MJ was famously wearing Con- the competition. verse the night he sank the National So last October, Calhoun turned fed- ­something with a or a puma has the prevent shoes that are ­considered counterfeit Championship–winning buzzer-beater for 3 eral court into Converse’s personal PREEMPTING AN perception of being corporate,” says Jay from entering and being sold in the country. the University of North Carolina Tar Heels, ­Thunderdome—suing 31 companies that ATTACK ON ITS ­Gordon, founder of the über-hip Boston The company argued that the Chuck’s com- but legendary Nike marketing executive he believed were selling copycat Chucks, boutique Bodega. “Chucks are much more bination of toe cap, toe bumper, and midsole Sonny Vaccaro, a.k.a. “Sole Man,” poached from Ralph Lauren to Kmart. He even went PF FLYERS SNEAKER, antiestablishment. They are rock ’n’ roll.” stripe had over the course of nearly a century His Airness by paying him $500,000 a year after the largest retail titan on the planet, NEW BALANCE FILED So far, customers around the world have developed what lawyers call a “secondary for five years. Up until that point, the high- Walmart. Rather than heed his staff’s “If it bought more than a billion pairs of Chucks. meaning”—a strong association in the pub- est contract had been between New Balance ain’t broke” advice, Calhoun had launched a A FEDERAL LAWSUIT They’ve become iconic. That success, though, lic’s mind between an image and the com- and , for a measly $150,000 a global sneaker war. He just hoped he wasn’t CITING CONVERSE’S has led to an “explosion of knockoff activity,” pany manufacturing it. Like the McDonald’s year for eight years. about to screw it all up. “AGGRESSIVE EFFORTS” Calhoun says. During his first three years golden arches or Disney’s mouse ears, Con- The Jordan deal helped catapult Nike into as CEO, he played a fruitless and “endless verse argued, shoes with the telltale toe cap, the annals of pop-culture history. It became o sneaker embodies the rebel- TO BULLY IMITATORS. Whack-a-Mole game,” he says, sending hun- toe bumper, and stripe could not be mistaken the world’s most profitable athletic shoe 4 lious American spirit like the dreds of cease-and-desist letters to compa- for any other brand but Converse. company, and flung Converse in the oppo- Chuck. The simple, flat-soled nies he suspected of selling rip-offs. Finally, The company’s legal argument was site direction. Converse was slow to embrace Calhoun (1) introduced “Design Your Own Chuck Taylors,” which let customers cus- shoe with a white toe bumper, in October 2014, Calhoun took a bold step rooted in its origins. In 1908, a New Hamp- even simple innovations such as leather shoe tomize their kicks, (2) spearheaded the Nblack stripe along the bottom, and All Star toward choking off competitors, suing 31 shire native named Marquis Mills Converse construction: Within 10 years, the company global “Made by You” campaign featuring patch has proudly appeared on the feet of companies for copyright infringement. founded the Converse Rubber Shoe Com- was on the skids. In 1995, Converse dropped art installations across the globe, and (3) launched an Andy Warhol collection. To World War II Army cadets, Elvis Presley, Converse also filed a complaint with pany in Malden. In the beginning, his only its running, outdoor, walking, tennis, and strengthen Converse’s ties to rock ’n’ roll, Andy Warhol, the Sharks and the Jets in West the International Trade Commis- products were waterproof ; later, he football categories, laid off 600 employ- he (4) opened Rubber Tracks recording Side Story, the , Hunter S. Thomp- sion (ITC), which expedites expanded into tennis shoes to keep his work- ees—20 percent of its staff—and watched its studios in New York, São Paulo, and Boston, which offer local musicians free son, Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future, cases and has the ers employed year round. In 1917, he debuted stock plunge to the point where it was del- use of state-of-the-art equipment.

Kurt Cobain, and Justin Bieber. “Wearing authority­ to (SNEAKER) OF NEW BALANCE COURTESY PHOTOGRAPH OF CONVERSE COURTESY PHOTOGRAPHS the world’s first performance sneaker for a isted from the (continued on page 156)

106 BOSTON | DECEMBER 2015 PHOTOGRAPH BY TREVOR REID BOSTONMAGAZINE.COM 107 Sneaker Wars Sneaker Wars CONTINUED FROM PAGE 107 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 156

New York Stock Exchange. Revenue plum- Just a month after that, Nike moved Con- Zakim Bridge; and hundreds of employees But Converse’s court claims were not to go the distance, blasting the lawsuit as meted from $450 million in 1997 to $209 mil- verse CEO Michael Spillane over to , with tattoos and perfectly groomed beards, without precedent. In 2011, couture designer nothing more than Converse’s attempt “to lion in 2000, the year before Converse filed and asked Calhoun to take his place. all with Chuck Taylors strapped to their feet. Christian Louboutin—whose high heels extort monetary settlements.” And then a for bankruptcy. Just when it looked like the Calhoun quickly set to work on sharp- Calhoun knew there was still more work nearly always feature a bright-red ­outsole— crosstown rival blindsided Converse with company was going to become a footnote in ening the brand’s identity. Within a year, he to do. In 2014, Converse asked customers sued rival Yves Saint Laurent for selling copy- a potential knockout punch. sneaker lore, Nike swooshed in and bought strategically killed Converse’s performance around the world for feedback. The biggest cat shoes, alleging trademark infringement. Converse for $305 million in 2003, hoping to basketball line, upon which the company was complaint by far was that Chucks hurt their A year later, the U.S. Court of Appeals Sec- new balance was not in calhoun’s remake the brand it had helped crush. practically founded, to free it from competing feet, but by no means did they want the com- ond Circuit held that Louboutin’s signa- cross hairs when Converse first filed its head-to-head with Nike. He also placed the pany to start messing with their favorite ture red sole was a “distinctive symbol” and declarations of war in the federal courts. for a guy in charge of one of the company’s undivided focus on the shoe with shoe. Despite the poor cushioning, custom- granted Louboutin the exclusive right to sell Inside the legal department at New Balance, hippest shoes ever made, Calhoun doesn’t the classic white toe cap and toe bumper. With ers hailed Chucks as the shoe they wanted shoes with red soles in the as though, decision makers feared Converse exactly embody the essence of cool. His work Converse’s signature basketball line out of the to be buried in when they died and vowed long as the shoes themselves were not red. might attack its PF Flyers sneaker—­ uniform is a blazer and jeans—coupled, of picture, the question for Calhoun suddenly to renounce Converse forever if it changed. When fashion lawyer Staci Jennifer Riordan complete with a toe bumper and a midsole­ course, with a pair of special-edition Chucks. became: How does a sneaker company that Once again, the message was clear: Don’t learned that her client, H & M, was among the stripe—if the ITC ruled in Converse’s favor. And even when he’s hyping his flagship prod- is no longer about sports continue to grow? fuck up the Chuck. 31 companies Converse had sued, she says New Balance asked Converse if it would uct to a room full of musicians and artists—his To Calhoun, the answer was clear: focus Calhoun listened, but did not obey, and her entire office “immediately thought Con- exempt its neighbor. Converse said no. target clientele—he speaks in corporate tones on what made Converse unique and cool. He took his biggest gamble yet: the first major verse was inspired by Christian Louboutin... So New Balance responded with an early and comes off as studied and out of place. Cal- introduced “Design Your Own Chuck Tay- redesign of the Chuck in 98 years. This past Because the fashion industry doesn’t have a Christmas gift: On December 23, 2014, it houn practically admits that he’s the last per- lors,” which spoke to millennials’ desire for July, Converse invited 130 fashion journal- lot of intellectual-property protection in the filed a federal lawsuit assaulting what it son on earth he ever would have imagined individuality and enabled customers to take ists from around the world to a cavernous United States, you’re starting to see compa- called Converse’s “aggressive efforts” to leading Converse into the 21st century. control of their own look. He also launched warehouse on Boston Harbor, where they nies find creative ways to try to secure it.” bully imitators. Noting that Converse once Calhoun grew up in Dedham and spent an Andy Warhol collection, and used part of walked through a circus of floor-to-ceiling But Converse faced a tougher road. Whereas owned and then sold the PF Flyers shoe line much of his childhood on the sidelines of a a $7 million media budget on a global “Made neon-green strobe lights to see the Chuck II Louboutin attacked swiftly, Converse had in the 1970s, New Balance asked the U.S. basketball court, watching his father coach by You” campaign featuring art installations for the first time. The sneaker maintains the waited decades. “When you sit on something District Court in Massachusetts to declare the men’s basket- in cities across the globe, from Shanghai to timeless look, but has a sturdier microsuede and you let the industry build up around it, that the Flyers do not infringe on the Chuck ball team. It’s no surprise that Jim Calhoun London. To strengthen Converse’s ties to lining, a gum-rubber sole, a memory-foam and then you go to war over it,” Louboutin Taylor trademark—and to go the extra step Sr.’s ferocious competitive spirit rubbed off. rock ’n’ roll, Calhoun opened recording stu- tongue, and the vastly superior Lunarlon attorney Harley Lewin recently said, “that’s of canceling the Chuck’s entire trademark, “I love to compete,” Calhoun admits. His dios in trendy cities such as New York, São sock liner invented by Nike. “They feel like a very hard pill to swallow.” because it contained common ornamental father would go on to lead the University Paulo, and Boston—all of them called Rub- real shoes now, instead of like shoddy canvas Converse’s 224-page ITC complaint fea- and functional features that should be free of Connecticut to three national titles, and ber Tracks—which offer local musicians free sacks for feet,” wrote Gizmodo. The Verge tured side-by-side comparisons of Chucks for anyone to manufacture. It was a nuclear Jim Jr. frequently refers to him as his hero. use of state-of-the-art equipment, no strings praised the “ground-up rebuild—like the and every alleged imitator. Some—such as option, the worst possible scenario: Calhoun As a young man, though, Calhoun strug- attached. (The opening party for the Bos- Galaxy S6 of sneakers.” Katie Abel, global Esquire ’s high-tops, Ed Hardy’s had set out to vaporize the competition, but gled to measure up to his father. While his ton studio stretched for a week and included news director of Footwear News, told me “Dakota,” and Kmart’s “Joe Boxer” shoes— if he lost this lawsuit to New Balance, he’d younger brother, Jeff, played for their dad at invite-only performances by the Replace- that the Chuck II “opens the door to first- might have been difficult for the untrained instead have opened Converse to an end- UConn, “at 5-foot-10 and immensely average ments, Slayer, and Chance the Rapper.) time consumers and resparks interest in consumer to distinguish from Chucks. Other less stream of legal imitators. To no one’s from an athletic perspective,” Calhoun says, In an effort to attract young talent and old consumers.” Once again, Chucks were brands looked like Salvador Dalí versions, surprise, Calhoun threatened to add New “I knew early on that basketball probably inject raw energy into the company, the cor- positioned at the center of rebellious, artis- too squat or narrow or flimsy to be mistaken Balance to the ITC lawsuit, but New Balance wasn’t going to be in my career.” After gradu- porate journeyman knew he needed a sleek tic youth, just like in the 1950s. Except it was for the real thing. The complaint also dug up beat him to the punch by filing a motion to ating from the blueblood prep school Noble new home, one that smacked of hipster cool 2015, and nearly every size and color of the comments from competitors’ online stores join the case just so it could fight it. Sneaker & Greenough, he enrolled at Northeastern and embodied the Converse image. So he relo- Chuck II sold out in a single day. to prove consumers’ confusion. “All good on Town was officially at war. and followed his dad to UConn, where he cated Converse’s headquarters to a converted the knockoff front,” a shopper wrote about Throughout it all, Calhoun has remained studied psychology. When Calhoun gradu- brick factory at Boston’s Lovejoy Wharf in on october 14, 2014, converse filed 22 Walmart’s “Faded Glory” shoe. “People com- diplomatic about the ongoing feud. When ated in 1989, he had no plans to become an May. “If you’re a twentysomething-year-old separate federal lawsuits against 31 manufac- pliment me on my ‘Chucks.’” asked about New Balance, he says, “If some- executive, but says he knew “If I can’t be an international designer,” Gordon says, “North turers, including Tory Burch, , and At first, Calhoun’s attack on the fashion body said, ‘Hey, would you want them to athlete, I’m going to go into this thing called Andover isn’t exactly what you’re looking for.” . That same day, the company also filed a industry seemed to work. In January, the ITC go away?’ Actually, no. We’re both trying to business.” He hoped to establish a career far The best way to describe the new complaint seeking secondary-­meaning pro- found that 36 Ralph Lauren styles infringed make meaningful differences in consumers’ away from his legendary father’s home turf 214,000-square-foot, 10-floor Converse head- tection from the International Trade Com- on Converse’s trademarks, including its cam- lives, and they keep us better. But I think we and then, one day, return to . quarters is corporate hipster nirvana. Cal- mission. “We have big growth plans for the ouflage, western-leather, and bleached- can respectfully disagree.” Unlike his father, though, who coached houn got his wish. When young designers or company,” Calhoun says. “And to do that, you shoes. Ralph Lauren agreed to destroy The ITC trial began on August 4 at the at only two schools over 40 years, Calhoun salespeople interview for a job, he can lure have to protect the brand name and stop this all the offending footwear and paid Converse commission’s main hearing room in Wash- bounced from one company to another, them with a chandelier in the entrance made infringing behavior.” an unspecified sum. H & M agreed to a similar ington, DC. For five days, 24 attorneys for making stops at Nautica, Disney, and Dock- up of nearly 200 glowing black Chucks dan- At first, some in the sneaker world saw settlement in February. Within months, 28 Converse and another 18 for the competition ers. He even worked at Nike in the mid- gling from white shoelaces; an employee con- the lawsuits as a marketing ploy. Others saw companies had settled out of court. pored over accusations, witness testimony, 1990s as a product manager for college cierge to book flights and handledry-cleaning; ­ opportunism. “Whether [the infringement] There were still a few holdouts: Walmart, and enough sneakers to make Kanye go bare- basketball apparel before landing back at an expansive lounge and espresso bar; a claims are valid or not,” Bodega’s Gordon Skechers, and Highline United, which sells foot for a month. Team Converse illustrated Nike in 2011 as CEO of the -based second­-floor gym “powered by Nike”; a deck says, “it’s a smart move just to flex a little shoes under the Ash brand, refused to back the “iconic,” “timeless” look and appeal of and surfing brand Hurley. overlooking the (continued on page 161) muscle and get people thinking.” down. Walmart, with its deep pockets, vowed Converse, citing its 40 million ­Facebook

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­followers, more than any other brand on other sneakers predating the Chuck with a Skechers, Highline, and New Balance who the planet. “Children take their first steps similar toe, sole stripe, and heel combina- win. Some number of the 28 companies that in them, teens wear them to prom and to tion. Quoting Coco Chanel’s famous line, settled could reboot their factories and get graduate, adults get married in them,” Con- “Only those with no memory insist on their away with selling Chuck knockoffs scot-free. verse attorneys said, highlighting the pub- originality,” the attorney concluded, “Nike In the face of impending defeat, Cal- lic’s near- universal recognition of the brand. and Converse appear to have no memory.” houn remains upbeat. If his lawsuits tank in Team Skechers-Walmart-New Balance- During the first day of hearings, an ITC court, Converse is no worse off than before, Highline fired back. New Balance attorney attorney said she expected Converse to fail when his foes were ripping him off in the Mark Puzella called Calhoun to the witness to establish a secondary meaning. The final first place. Even without trademark pro- stand and tried to make him look like a fool. ruling on the case was scheduled for mid- tection, Converse is making more money Puzella displayed a page from Converse’s November. Should Converse lose, it would than ever before. In the past four years, 1983 annual report that said the brand’s hand Calhoun the first of what could be a Calhoun has expanded Converse’s retail “most significant trademarks are...the Con- series of defeats in federal court. Calhoun presence in the United States, China, and verse logo consisting of the name Converse declined to answer any questions about the Australia and pushed sales to 270,000 pairs in combination with the star design,” and prospect that his master plan could blow of Chucks a day worldwide. Converse even asked Calhoun to verify that the report made up in his face. earned bragging rights over its big brother: no mention of a midsole stripe. The attor- Not only will the final ITC ruling heav- Since 2003, while Nike’s revenue has merely ney also asked why Converse had waited 31 ily influence the district courts’ decisions tripled, Converse’s had grown tenfold. Cal- years to take action. Skechers’ lawyer didn’t in the individual lawsuits Converse still has houn “has taken Converse to the next level,” miss a beat, asserting that “Converse, after against Walmart, Skechers, and Highline, Abel says, by “being super smart and glob- being purchased by Nike, the biggest shoe but the ITC’s ruling might also jeopardize ally minded while managing to stay cool.” company in the world, decided it wanted the existing settlements with companies No matter how the lawsuit ends, the to own the entire product category. And it such as Ralph Lauren and H & M. Many of company knows its success will breed imi- would be as if Ralph Lauren was bought by a these deals may have “contingency pro- tators—whether of its shoes or its innovative very large company and said, ‘I want to own visions,” says H & M attorney Riordan, approach to marketing. “The bigger we get,” polo shirts’ and kick everyone else out of the ­meaning that if the ITC invalidates the Calhoun tells me, the more “we’re drawing a market.” He also displayed pairs of and Chuck trademark, it won’t just be Walmart, bigger crowd trying to take a piece of us.”

162 BOSTON | DECEMBER 2015