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Converse is taking colorful steps into Pride Month with its signature shoes this year.
The brand’s 2023 Pride collection, “Proud to Be,” has just launched on its website this week ahead of Pride in June. Inspired by individuality and Converse’s international community of LGBTQIA+ fans, the line features a wide range of colorful iterations of Converse’s signature sneakers. The $35-$130 unisex collection includes two T-shirt styles, as well as rainbow-hued and embellished iterations of styles including the Run Star Legacy and various Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers, made customizable with various prints and embroidery within the brand’s Converse By You program.
One notable standout is the Pride 2023 version of the brand’s staple $80 Chuck Taylor All Star high-top sneaker. The canvas style, complemented by its signature cap-toed soles, is given a Pride makeover with multicolored color-blocked uppers cast in hues inspired by the LGBTQIA+ and transgender community flags. The pair is finished with geometric shapes in the same colors printed across its white rubber soles.
Another highlight from the range is Converse’s heeled Chuck 70 De Luxe Heel. Just launched in March, the $130 style — a bootie-like silhouette with Chuck Taylor All Star’s signature lace-up uppers, uplifted with block-heeled rubber soles — is revamped for Pride with rainbow license plate detailing and LGBTQIA+ and transgender flag-striped patches. The pair’s boldest statement, however, comes from its high-top uppers, which are coated in sparkly silver glitter.
Aside from its inclusive range, Converse’s Pride 2023 initiative also features an inclusive accompanying campaign, starring legendary drag performer and musician Big Freedia. The star is also cast with the brand’s various Converse All Star creatives — singer Eva Westphal, artist Yeliz Aifoglu and creative Xavier ‘Internet X’ Means — and Converse employees for the occasion. The campaign, where all pose while wearing the collection, showcases its various silhouettes in truly inclusive and optimistic fashion.
Converse is the latest brand to launch an inclusive and LGBTQIA+-themed collection for Pride Month, joining a range of brands including Adidas, Vans and Teva that havre released limited-edition capsules and products for the occasion.
Converse’s Pride 2023 collection is now available on its website.
