A Week With Chuck: Lucas Blackman
While there will always be a place for the humble 99-year-old All Star, the team at Converse introduced the new Chuck II for the discerning sneakerhead who wants something more comfortable to support their increasingly busy lifestyle. Featuring a Lunarlon sole unit and packaged in the iconic Chuck silhouette we all love, the Chuck II has quickly become a favourite among the SF staff and extended family – we even put it in our !
To celebrate the release of the new , we’ve enlisted some crew who are always on their feet to spend a week wearing the new Chucks, and give us some feedback on how the updated OG feels on duty. Starting things off, Sydney sneakerhead was more than happy to take the Chuck II for a test run while he spends a hectic week standing behind the coffee machine in Darlinghurst’s café…
My alarm screams at me 5:40 every single morning. After three more consecutive alarms, I’ll finally get out of bed long before the sun is up. A quick shower tends to wake me right up, followed by a waxing of the mo’ and a spray of Black by Comme des Garçons. Shoes, keys, wallet, camera, muesli bar, phone – and I’m on my way. The quiet walk to work takes less than 15 minutes and by 6:30 I clock in at a cozy little cafe named Bootsdarling.
Founded in early 2014, Boots is a bustling little shop fuelled by the local hospital workers and surrounding university students, along with the general swarm of café regulars on the weekends. My general day consists of pouring coffee from 6:30 straight through until we call it time around 4pm. I’m on my feet for almost ten hours a day, five days a week, so wearing something comfy is pretty important to me. ‘You’re either in your shoes or in your bed so it pays to invest in both’, that’s how the saying goes, right?
For a week in March I wear-tested a pair of Chuck Taylor IIs at the café. I ain’t gonna lie, they were the first pair of Converse I have ever worn, and I already feel drawn to the ‘Con-side’! The Lunarlon sole is where all the magic lies. My comfort level on a daily basis has increased dramatically. I honestly don’t even have time to sit down for lunch, so underfoot cushioning is super important. Another great feature I have to note is the elastic support on either side of the tongue to ensure it doesn’t end up doing spirals around my feet.
The only downside I have to note is the lack of anti-coffee technology, which has resulted in my Chucks becoming covered in coffee ground on the daily. The knitted upper allows my feet to breathe a little, which is always nice after a hectic day behind the counter. One last feature I’d like to point out is the thick rubber toecap, which saved my toenails on one occasion when I dropped my weighty coffee tamp straight off the bar. This is a regular occurrence for me – Fumble McGee is my workplace alter ego! So overall I’d give the Chucks a solid 8/10 for people who are always on their feet like me. If they came in purple knit with an auto-lacing system (please!), then they’d earn those extra two points, making these the bee’s knees for coffee shop kicks!
Thanks for the Chucks and keep up the good work Converse!
The Converse Chuck Taylor All Star II Knit Collection is available now at Converse stockists and online at .