Is This a Converse Comeback?
With NBA Champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in its roster and a signature shoe set to drop, Converse finally has a route back to cultural relevance.
Good morning people! Welcome back to SportsVerse, my twice-weekly newsletter that tells stories you can't find anywhere else about the intersection of sports, fashion, business, and culture. Powered by OffBall.
The rumours are true. I am in Paris. Wesh. Many exciting things are happening this week in our world:
Kenyan athlete Faith Kipyegon will attempt to become the first woman to run a mile in under four minutes at Stade Charléty in Paris on June 26, in a challenge which Nike has called Breaking4. Stay tuned to OffBall and SportsVerse for a behind-the-scenes look at this historic moment.
Anthony Edwards was officially unveiled as a Prada ambassador at the brand’s Spring/Summer 2026 show in Milan on Monday. If only someone had called this relationship from the beginning and analysed why it was a smart play. Oh wait.
Paris Fashion Week. I’m not the biggest fashion week fan. But I love Paris Fashion Week Men’s in June. Why? Because it’s summer. It’s Fête de la Musique. Several major sports leagues are in their off-season, meaning this is the fashion week that has all our favourite athletes seated front row or (more commonly these days) walking in shows. Early morning run clubs and workouts. Sports brands from Nike to Adidas to Asics to New Balance show out with big activations. It’s a week-long vibe.
Nike reports its fourth quarter and full-year earnings for its 2025 fiscal year on Thursday. It will be the latest insight we get into the brand’s turnaround strategy under CEO Elliott Hill.
Finally, I’ll be talking through the key lessons from a brand new sportswear report I worked on with Launchmetrics, alongside some knowledgeable friends, on June 24 at 10 EDT/4 pm CET. The live session is free to join. Sign up here, and we’ll see you there.
Is This the Start of a Converse Comeback?
Converse has had a rough time of late. In the last three fiscal quarters, the brand has recorded year-over-year sales declines of 18 percent, 17 percent and 15 percent, respectively.
The brand has increasingly struggled to diversify its appeal and find its footing in a sneaker market dominated by chunky technical sneakers and low-rise running silhouettes.
But lately, there has been fresh cause for optimism for those at the brand, giving a sliver of hope that there may just be a turnaround in its fortunes in the distant future.
It’s easy to forget Converse was once the maker of some of the original basketball shoes to find mainstream appeal, the canvas Chuck Taylor All Stars — named after a basketball player and shoe salesman who in the 1930s, heavily influenced the look and design of the shoe that is still a popular choice for consumers of all ages to this day. It’s also why you’ll hear Converse footwear referred to as “Chucks” by many people.
It’s also easy to forget that for decades, Converse towered over Nike in the basketball category, both in terms of recognition and market share. That was until Nike signed a certain Michael Jordan — and we know how the rest of the story goes. Converse is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nike.
Last year, Converse decided that if it was to regain cultural relevance once again in the world of sports culture, it would need to go back to its roots. It named 26-year-old Canadian basketball star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as creative director of its basketball category and announced he would be working on his debut signature shoe with the brand, the Shai 001.
This was a big deal in and of itself: Converse had long ceased to be a brand seen on the hardwood of the NBA and had simply become a fashion staple — albeit one that was falling out of favour with mainstream consumers after years of oversupply.
Fast forward to last Sunday night, Shai — off the back of being named MVP — led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the NBA Championship, completing a season that has seen his reputation, *aura* and brand power increase exponentially.
Giving any player a signature shoe deal is a massive gamble. It’s a significant investment in years of product development, dedicated digital marketing and IRL activations and one-to-one work with the athlete to bring their vision to life. For a brand like Converse — which doesn’t have the resources or depth in its roster as other sportswear brands — it can easily backfire. A player can get injured. They could get hit by a scandal, rendering their products unsellable.
Luckily for Converse, this is a gamble that is set to provide a pretty instant return. Shai has proven himself to be the new face of the league — just out in front of other standout young talent like Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton — and his performances throughout the playoffs and NBA Finals have shone a spotlight on Converse once again in the basketball world.
And guess what? He has been a walking billboard for Converse since the 2025 All-Star Weekend earlier this year, when he debuted his Shai 001 signature shoe for the first time. Since then, his electrifying performances, eye-catching tunnel fits and nonchalant press conference appearances have only served to drum up more interest in this new shoe.
The Shai 001 itself is good to look at. Check. Crucially, it’s a basketball shoe that looks like it would translate well to off-the-court (i.e. fashion) use. This is a critical component of any commercially successful modern basketball shoe, like Adidas’ AE 1 silhouette.
The marketing has been on point, too — another crucial element of the go-to-market phase for any new signature line. Check. Right after the buzzer rung in OKC’s NBA Finals victory on Sunday night, Shai (also NBA Finals MVP) was handed a custom gold pair of Shai 001s designed by Converse to commemorate the win, which were conveniently dangled around his neck throughout the various post-game celebrations and interviews, in full view of the cameras. Smart, low-lift, organic marketing.
Earlier in the playoffs, when OKC saw off the Timberwolves, Converse struck while the iron was hot, blasting out a cheeky spot which took aim at Adidas and their signature basketball athlete, Anthony Edwards. It showed swagger and confidence that the brand had both the product (Shai 001) and the talent (Shai) to back up its talk.
So far so good. There’s just one problem. The Shai 001, the shoe which has been in the spotlight throughout this electrifying NBA post-season and at the peak of its visibility, is not available for sale. Converse has not even begun seeding the shoe to key opinion leaders and people in their network to get people talking. There hasn’t even been a super limited release of a small number of Shai 001 shoes to really tap the demand, which is at an all time high right now.
Instead, the shoe will release this fall. That’s okay, too. These things take time. The development of a signature shoe is a years-long process and brands work painstakingly to make sure that the ultimate launch goes off smoothly. But Converse will be kicking itself that at the perfect moment for its large scale re-entry into the world of signature basketball footwear, its shoe is not ready for fans to buy up. They will have to hope the momentum and interest carries through the offseason into the fall.
Interestingly, SGA’s opposing number in the NBA Finals was Tyrese Haliburton, Puma’s newest signature athlete. He too, had been balling out night after night wearing his debut signature shoe (the Puma Hali 1), designed by Salehe Bembury. His too, was also unavailable to purchase just yet. Puma too, will have been kicking itself when he went down in Game 7 of the Finals on Sunday with a ruptured achilles. It’s awful hard to drum up interest in a signature sneaker launch when the star player in question is out injured. As I said, the signature athlete business is a risky one.
Luckily for Converse, it picked the winning horse in this race. SGA is widely accepted as the new face of the league (depending on who you ask) and a newly minted NBA champion. They have a genuine global star — and a fashion icon (he’s also a Canada Goose ambassador and all-round tunnel walk standout — to build their basketball category around.
Let’s be clear. Sales of signature shoes do not move the needle for brands in terms of sales. Lifestyle shoes (like Adidas Sambas or Nike’s retro Dunks or Jordans) drive the bulk of sales for sneaker brands. But performance lines like the Shai 001 provide the marketing gold dust that can generate hype and genuine star power around a brand’s appeal and wider assortment.
If Converse manage this moment, and the shoe’s eventual launch, correctly, this may just be the beginning of a very very long road to relevance in the sneaker market once again.
We shall see.
That’s all for today, friends. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
See you next time,
DYM
We shai see! 😌
Interesting pieces. But i'd really like to hear about Nike's marketing strategy placing the Swoosh logo with JumpMan. Seems random to me, especially when put on college football uniforms. What exactly is the strategy?