These Converse Sneakers Get the Inside-Out Treatment
We’re living in the golden age of the deconstructed sneaker. Last year’s Nike and Off-White collaboration featured pared-down takes on many of the Swoosh’s most beloved models. Hender Scheme, the Japanese label that mainly works with untreated leather, has become wildly popular among in-the-know sneakerheads with deep pockets. Even Maison Margiela has continued the label’s longstanding streak of producing deconstructed sneakers. Now, the latest unconventional—and unfinished—take in footwear design is here, and it comes courtesy of an unexpected collaboration: between a young Los Angeles-based designer and the historic sneaker makers at Converse.
Under his Midnight Studios label, 23-year-old designer Shane Gonzales has taken two of Converse’s most iconic models—the Chuck Taylor All-Star 70 and the One Star—and literally (okay, figuratively) flipped them inside-out. “When I approached such traditional and everyday sneakers such as these, a million things ran through my mind. But the idea of turning them inside out really stuck out in my head,” says Gonzales. “Everyone in the past has overlooked the construction and beauty of these classic Converse silhouettes, so I wanted to bring that to the forefront by focusing on the interior detail rather than exterior.”
At first glance, the Converse x Midnight Studios sneakers might seem accidentally unfinished, but achieving that aura of simplicity took nearly a year. Both sneakers are made of unbleached canvas, and adorned with elements usually kept hidden from plain sight. And vice versa: the inside of the sneaker gets the stuff you usually get on the outside. For example, the iconic Chuck patch now lives tucked inside the shoe’s interior, while the lesser known player’s tag (usually included on the interior tongue) is exposed for the first time in Chuck Taylor history. In so many words, Gonzales and Converse have remixed and repurposed design elements most of us didn’t even know existed—and in doing so have managed to create fresh take on a decades-old sneaker.
Fans of Gonzales might be surprised by the subdued approach; the punk-inspired designer, who rolls with A$AP Rocky and the rapper’s AWGE collective, is known to lean heavily into bold graphics and eye-catching silhouettes. “When designing these sneakers, I wanted to make something everyone could wear,” explains Gonzales. “Rather than making the shoe loud and adding graphics which focus on Midnight Studios, I wanted to create a version of the sneaker which could attract anyone and everyone.”
During a time when maximalism and a more-is-more mentality are surging through menswear, opting for an unfinished and restrained aesthetic can be subversive. The shoes show another side to Gonzales’s handiwork—and they're also the type of sneakers you can wear with pretty much anything. Think of the collection as the punk rock version of a clean, white pair of kicks: a sneaker that's too cool to worry about things like glossy polish and finishing details.
This will be the first time many sneaker fans hear of Gonzales and Midnight Studios, especially considering the reach of Converse. But Gonzales has created a shoe that is both universal and niche—and above all unassumingly stylish. For that reason alone, we’re pretty sure Gonzales is about to win over some new fans.
Available June 15 via Converse and select retailers.
