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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – January 22, 2009 - Converse debuts an exciting new collection of designs for Spring 2009 in its final installment of 1HUND(RED) Artists footwear, the brand’s unprecedented global curation project designed to support Converse’s partnership with (RED). Featuring an impressive talent roster, the collections present new designs from acclaimed artists in the worlds of music, art and fashion. Prominent contributors include musicians The Edge of U2 and Lupe Fiasco; acclaimed artist Andrew Mania; celebrated fashion designers Basso and Brooke are also featured. Using one of the world’s greatest blank canvas’s, each artist’s original designs were inspired by Converse 1HUND(RED) Artist’s goal to help fight AIDS in Africa. Peter Arkle Illustrator Scotland (Artist #51) An inspiring Illustrator Peter Arkle has fond memories of blood cells from high school biology in Scotland, and when he was starting to think of his 1HUND(RED) shoe, he decided to turn them into a pattern. Chucks often find their way into Peter’s illustrations. “With the shape of their rubber sole, toe cap and logo, the shoes are distinctive even in a tiny drawing,” he says. Peter’s “inky scribbles,” which have appeared in numerous publications and on products often involve funny stories about people doing odd things in public. “All you have to do is pay attention to find them,” he says. “I wish my shoe could get people to do that.” Peter Arkle’s Converse 1HUND(RED) Artist collaboration Chuck Taylor All Star oxford shoe comes in white/black/lollipop and will be available at select specialty retailers nationwide and online at www.converse.com beginning in January. MSRP $55 with 10% of the net wholesale price going to the Global Fund. Basso and Brooke, Fashion Designers, London, England (Artist #82) Chris Brooke and Bruno Basso met in a London nightclub in 2002. Basso, a graphic designer, had just moved from Brazil, and Brooke was finding his work designing bespoke commissions. So a new fashion house, Basso & Brooke, was formed. Their first show led to raves from the fashion press who called the clothes sexy and slinky and loved the duo’s riotous prints. They both say they want their shoe’s bold print to “bring joy, style and positive thinking,” Basso explains. “If everyone helps a little, it will be easier to envision a better world.” Basso and Brooke’s Converse 1HUND(RED) Artist collaboration shoe comes in multi/milk/yellow and will be available at select specialty retailers nationwide and online at www.converse.com beginning in February. MSRP $80 with 10% of the net wholesale price going to the Global Fund. Jeff Hamada, Artist, Vancouver, Canada (Artist #44) Jeff Hamada appreciates a good laugh. “I think there’s a certain honesty in humor,” he says. “It has a way of revealing things too, like who people are and what issues they care about.” Jeff goes on to say that he sees humor as a bridge, connecting people to each other—especially through the art they create. Jeff applied the idea of connection to his 1HUND(RED) design. “I immediately started sketching ideas and kept drawing hands—hands reaching out, reaching up.” For Jeff, these hands, and their gestures, have two meanings: “They are the hands of the world reaching out to help Africa, and the hands of the people in Africa are reaching up for help,” he explains. “The message isn’t just Africa, it’s common sense. It’s day to day; it’s every day.” Jeff Hamada’s Converse 1HUND(RED) Artist collaboration Chuck Taylor All Star high-top shoe comes in white/grey/light blue and will be available at select specialty retailers nationwide and online at www.converse.com beginning in March. MSRP $55 with 10% of the net wholesale price going to the Global Fund. The Edge, Musician, Dublin, Ireland (Artist #100) Renowned guitarist of internationally acclaimed band U2, has the distinction of designing the 100th shoe. The design features 100 arrowheads taken from the angle of a star, the graphic featured on every pair of Converse sneakers. The result is a bold design with clean lines that can be seen and interpreted in many ways. The Edge’s Converse 1HUND(RED) Artist collaboration shoe comes in white/black/red and will be available at select specialty retailers nationwide and online at www.converse.com beginning in February. MSRP $55 with 10% of the net wholesale price going to the Global Fund. Lupe Fiasco, Musician, Chicago, USA (Artist #80) It’s nothing new that Lupe Fiasco has something to say—but it’s how he’s saying it that’s making noise. The acclaimed musical artist has collaborated with Converse to send out the word on foot for (RED). His 1HUND(RED) Artists design is inspired by newsprint and bears the familiar phrase (appearing in French around the shoe’s midsole) “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” With its printed canvas upper and iced outsole, Lupe’s message is black and white--and (RED) all over. Lupe Fiasco’s Converse 1HUND(RED) Artist collaboration shoe comes in white/black and will be available at select specialty retailers nationwide and online at www.converse.com beginning in February. MSRP $80 with 10% of the net wholesale price going to the Global Fund. Karoly Kiralyfalvi Artist, Budapest, Hungary (Artist #59) Skateboards, snowboards, books, magazines, t-shirts even the city of Budapest itself have all seen the hand of designer Karoly Kiralyfalvi. As a member of a global creative collective, he’s worked on everything from custom sneakers to even spray cans. For 1HUND(RED), Karoly took punk tools (spray cans included) to create a splintery graphic—“like an explosion,” he says. “I wanted people to imagine what they wanted in it. The obvious thing would ave been to write 100 or AIDS in a tricky typeface or something like that. Instead I’m giving people 100 tools.” Karoly Kiralyfalvi’s Converse 1HUND(RED) Artist collaboration Chuck Taylor All Star oxford shoe comes in white/lavender/multi and will be available at select specialty retailers nationwide and online at www.converse.com beginning in January. MSRP $55 with 10% of the net wholesale price going to the Global Fund. Andrew Mania Artist London, England (Artist #94) First a fact: Andrew Mania’s real name is Mania. “It’s Polish and centuries old,” Andrew explains. With conceptual work that riffs off famous art pieces—and has netted him big name galleries in London and Chelsea—one might assume it’s a fake name, but it’s not. Andrew uses everything from clothing to photos in his work. When it came time to make his 1HUND(RED) shoe, he’d already been doing his own take on “This is not a pipe.” Andrew explains, “Clothes or sneakers are just another set of materials to play with. And the shoe can be a work of art, or something other than what it obviously is.” Andrew Mania’s Converse 1HUND(RED) Artist collaboration shoe comes in black/white/lollipop and will be available at select specialty retailers nationwide and online at www.converse.com beginning in February MSRP $60 with 10% of the net wholesale price going to the Global Fund. David Rainbird, Artist, London, England (Artist #44) After collecting vintage paint by numbers, British designer David Rainbird became interested in the ones that weren’t finished. “The half-finished ones are amazing. The structure is still visible, and I like to imagine why the painter gave up. Did he get bored or disappointed or worse—ashamed?” This idea of the unfinished painting inspired his 1HUND(RED) shoe. David’s design was a way of repositioning geopolitics and creating new associations between Africa and developed nations. “Doing this felt quite liberating because in the real world so much of the politics and inequality is based on geography.” In his 1HUND(RED) design, every country borders an African nation. “That seemed to me like a metaphor—treating a distant continent as a neighbor.” He also left his the paint-by-numbers unfinished—not because he was disheartened, but so each wearer could complete the map. David Rainbird’s Converse 1HUND(RED) Artist collaboration Chuck Taylor All Star high-top shoe comes in white/light blue and will be available at select specialty retailers nationwide and online at www.converse.com beginning in March. MSRP $55 with 10% of the net wholesale price going to the Global Fund. Bobby Shriver, Humanitarian, Santa Monica, USA (Artist #2) As one of the founders of (PRODUCT) RED, humanitarian Bobby Shriver found himself wanting a Converse (PRODUCT) (RED) sneaker to accompany his Emporio Armani (PRODUCT) RED tuxedo. So, he designed one! His patent leather Chuck Taylor All Star sneaker features crushed velvet footbeds and sleek detailing that make the shoe red carpet ready. Bobby Shriver’s Converse 1HUND(RED) Artist collaboration Chuck Taylor All Star high-top shoe comes in black patent/white/red and available at select specialty retailers nationwide and online at www.converse.com beginning in April. MSRP $100 with 10% of the net wholesale price going to the Global Fund. Converse 1HUND(RED) Artists includes a total of up to 100 designs with the goal of celebrating culture and supporting Converse (PRODUCT) RED. Each design is unique, detailed and incredibly varied and has a unique number located inside the shoe that identifies the artist who created the shoe. The numbers will correspond to a page on www.converse.com that will include information about the artist, design inspirations and more details about the project. Additionally, Converse offers the capability to give consumers a platform to express their originality with the MAKE MINE RED option on www.converseone.com with 15% of the net retail sales of these shoes going to the Global Fund. All shoes from 1HUND(RED) Artists and MAKE MINE RED will include iconic Converse (PRODUCT) RED detailing such as the (CONVERSE) RED logo inscribed on the insole of the shoe and red eyelets symbolically adorning the top of the shoes. Depending on the products sold 5 - 15% of the net sales of CONVERSE (PRODUCT) RED shoes goes directly to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Geneva, Switzerland). No part of the purchase price is deductible under U.S. law. (RED) was created by Bono (U2, singer and activist) and Bobby Shriver to deliver a sustainable flow of private sector money to the Global Fund to invest in African AIDS programs with an emphasis on the health of women and children.
Contact: Jason Thome Company: ConverseEmail: jason.thome@converse.com
Contact: Keith GullaCompany: ConverseEmail: keith.gulla@converse.com
Company: Converse
