New Classics: Meet the Redesigned Converse Chuck Taylor All Star II

The tried-and-true Chuck Taylor All Star gets rebuilt from the inside out.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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This feature originally appears in Complex's .

You can’t reinvent a classic, but add new, relevant flavor to an established icon, and you just might get a remix that is more than the sum of its parts. Why else do you think Coldcut’s rendition of “Paid in Full” goes so hard? That’s the same mind-set that went into the Chuck Taylor All Star II.

For all intents and purposes, the shape is the same as that of its 98-year-old predecessor, but the II has brand-new guts. First off, a Lunarlon interior sole makes each pair a hundred times more comfortable from the get-go. So long, breaking-in period! Converse has also added a dynamic elastic strap to the tongue for a better fit and to prevent it from slipping around, resulting in an all-around more secure shoe.

The apple may not have fallen far from the tree, but the core is definitely leaps and bounds better than Converse’s first fruit.

Converse All Star Chuck Taylor II Sneakers, $75, available 7/28 at converse.com