コンテンツへスキップ

1930-1969

1930 - 1939

The original Converse Rubber Company soared beyond the scope of its 1908 designs until 1929 when it fell into bankruptcy. Control of the company then passed on to Mitchell B. Kaufman, who had been president of Hodgman Rubber Company since 1925. After Kaufman’s untimely death a year later, his successor, Albert Wechsler, operated the company for the Kaufman estate until 1933, when a depressed economy and reduced profits prompted yet another change in command.

1929年には倒産に追い込まれたコンバースの経営権は、1925年からホッジマン・ラバー・カンパニーの社長を務めていたミッチェル・B・カウフマンに引き継がれました。カウフマンが1年後に早すぎる死を遂げた後、彼の後継者であるアルバート・ウェクスラーが1933年までカウフマン家のために会社を運営していましたが、経済が低迷し利益が減少したことで売却先を探すようになった。

1933: Posture Foundation

→ Jack Purcell (HOOD / B.F.GOODRICH / CONVerSe)

My present arch is designed to adapt itself to the sensitive area referred to while still continuing to effect a supporting and rotating action upon the general arch of the foot. The principal object of my invention is therefore an improved arch supporter for use in tennis shoes, leather shoes and like forms of footwear.
Hyman L. Whitman (From the patent description – June 1932)

1933: STONE FAMILY acquired

1930s. In 1933 Converse Rubber Co. was purchased by the Stone family-Joseph, Harry K., and Dewey D. Stone. The family ran the business for the next thirty-nine years; Stephen Stone was the last in the line at the helm. Converse had its best years under the Stone family, in part because the company’s marketing strategy was good.

The 1933 purchase of the company by the Stone family began a 39-year period of family ownership during which time Converse became a market leader. After providing protective footwear, special-purpose boots, parkas, and other equipment for the American Armed Services during World War II, the Stones concentrated on rapid growth in a civilian market. In 1946 the company’s Granite State Division in New Hampshire began operating two large plants. In 1953 Converse established the Coastal Footwear Corporation in Canovanas, Puerto Rico. 

1933年にストーン家がコンバースを買収したことで、39年間の家族経営が始まり、コンバースは市場のリーダーとなりました。第二次世界大戦中にアメリカ軍に防護靴、特殊用途のブーツ、パーカー、その他の装備品を提供した後、ストーン家は民間市場での急速な成長に集中しました。1946年には、ニューハンプシャー州にあるコンバースのグラニット・ステート事業部が2つの大規模な工場の操業を開始しました。1953年、コンバースはプエルトリコのカノバナスにコーティカルフットウェア・コーポレーションを設立した。

Joseph Stone

Joseph Stone (1877-1939)

Joseph Stone
Birthdate: March 14, 1887
Death: March 10, 1939 (51)
Relatives:
Simcha Stearn ,Son of Idletta Stone
Celia Stone’s husband
Stephen Arthur Stone; Father of David George Stone ,Ruth Shirley Mann
Sadie Mae Friedman’s brother
Half brother of James Stone; Pearl Benjamin; Harry Kaufman Stone; N. Louis Stone; Dewey David Stone ,and 2 others 
JOSEPH STONE

Dewey Stone

DEWEY DAVID STONE (1900-1977)

U.S. business executive and communal leader. Stone was born in Brockton, Massachusetts. He went into business in his native state and rose to become president of the Harodite Finishing Company as well as a board member of various corporations. A personal friend of Chaim Weizmann, he was long active in Zionism. From 1955 to 1963 he served as national chairman of the United Jewish Appeal. He was also chairman of the United Israel Appeal and the Jewish Agency, and active in numerous cultural and economic enterprises for Israel. His main interest was the Weizmann Institute of Science in Reḥovot, of which he was chairman of the board of governors from the institution’s establishment in 1944, as well as chairman of the board of directors of its American Committee.
How a Brockton Man Helped Create Israel

Dewey Stone was born in 1900 in Brockton, then a poor migrant town. He ran a series of thriving textile and other businesses, and installed his nephews at the helm of many of them. The most well-known among the companies was Converse Rubber Co., maker of raincoats and shoes and later, most famously, Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers. “He always had a phone on each ear, managing his many businesses and multitasking,” recalls Ted.
A Boston beginning

Stephen A Stone

STEPHEN ARTHUR STONE (1917-2002)

Stephen A. Stone, 84Pres. & CEO, Converse Rubber Co.
Stephen Arthur Stone of Wareham, Massachusetts, died at home on May 27, 2002, after a brief illness. He was the President and CEO of Converse Rubber Company for 30 years. Mr. Stone created the Chuck Taylor All Star line of sneakers. He took a traditional rubber ankle reinforcement patch, moved it to the outside of the sneaker, placed the Converse star on it, and began the era of brand logos on athletic shoes. Mr. Stone became a leader in the footwear industry and served on the Board of Directors of the Rubber Manufacturers Association from 1967-1984.

In 1972, Mr. Stone retired to his home in Wareham and dedicated himself to local affairs. He loved young people and was passionate about opening doors for them through education. He was a member of the Wareham School Committee for nine years and remained involved in the local schools and the Wareham Boys and Girls Club.

Mr. Stone was an active alumnus of the University of Michigan. He was an avid believer in liberal arts education and was a member of the Visiting Committee for the College of Literature, Science and the Arts. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Hebrew Laws by Hebrew College in Brookline, Mass. in 1990.

He was President of the Stone Charitable Foundation for thirty years and was actively engaged in philanthropy. Together with his wife Sybil Stone, he was an avid art collector and supporter of young New England artists. Mr. Stone was a member of the Board of Overseers of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and a member of the board of the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln.
Stephen Arthur Stone

1936:usa olympic basketball Team

Portrait of members of the Universal Studios basketball team after they won a tournament at Madison Square Garden that earned them the right to represent the United States at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Many of the best African American basketball players in the 1930s played professionally for barnstorming teams such as the Harlem Globetrotters and New York Renaissance and therefore, as non-amateurs, were ineligible for the Olympics under the rules of the era.
Jesse Owens vs. Hitler wasn’t the only story at the 1936 Olympics

1936年。ベルリンオリンピック。「ヒトラーのオリンピック」とも呼ばれているこの大会で、バスケットボールが正式にオリンピック競技に昇格。カナダとの決勝を制したアメリカ代表チームは金メダルを獲得する。この選手団にコンバース社は “ALL-STAR” を提供している。 また”OLYMPIC ALL-STAR” と言うホワイトアッパーのモデルも投入している。これが現在最も人気のあるカラーである”ホワイト” (少しクリームがかったホワイト)の原型。 この3年後ドイツ軍がポーランド侵攻を始め、時代は戦火の炎に包まれることになる。

1940 - 1949

After providing protective footwear, special-purpose boots, parkas, and other equipment for the American Armed Services during World War II, the Stones concentrated on rapid growth in a civilian market. In 1946 the company’s Granite State Division in New Hampshire began operating two large plants.

第二次世界大戦中にアメリカ軍に防護靴、特殊用途のブーツ、パーカー、その他の装備品を提供した後、ストーン家は民間市場での急速な成長に集中しました。1946年には、ニューハンプシャー州グラニットステートにある2つの大規模な工場の操業を開始しました。

1946 WORLD WAR II

When the U.S. entered World War II in 1941, Converse shifted production to manufacturing rubberized footwear, outerwear, and protective suits for the military.

This is a pair of US Navy boots to keep aviators’ feet from freezing. They were made by Converse, the famous sneaker company. The data tag in each boot says: BOOTS-FLIGHT BuAero-Navy MEDIUM Spec No. M380B Converse Contract No. NOs-281A. The sheepskin wool insides look amazingly good! There is a small tear (see photos) and some scuffing on the exterior. The bottoms are rubber. The tread is pretty decent on one and pretty worn on the other for some reason. The zippers (Talon) and laces look in good shape. These sheepskin pieces of flight gear weren’t meant to last long in everyday wear. They were designed to keep aircrews warm during missions. It is incredible that gear like this is still in such good shape after 70 or so years. 

1946

1946: BBA

The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA and the National Basketball League (NBL) merged to create the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The Philadelphia Warriors won the inaugural BAA championship in 1947, followed by the Baltimore Bullets and the Minneapolis Lakers in 1948 and 1949, respectively. Six teams from the BAA remain in operation in the NBA as of the 2017–18 season, three that co-founded the league in 1946 and three that joined it from the NBL in 1948 (below). The inaugural BAA season began with 11 teams, of which four dropped out before the second season. One ABL team joined to provide 8 teams for 1947–48 and four NBL teams joined to provide 12 for 1948–49. The records and statistics of the BAA and NBL prior to the merger in 1949 are considered in official NBA history only if a player, coach or team participated in the newly formed NBA after 1949 for one or more seasons
Basketball Association of America

1946-47 Philadelphia Warriors
The Warriors were one of 11 members of the original Basketball Association of America, which eventually merged with the National Basketball League. The key to the BAA is it featured 48-minute games and players could play unless they had six fouls. The Warriors were led by forward Joe Fulks, who averaged 23.2 points a game and fellow forward Howie Dallmar. These were the truly primitive days of the league when games were often played in ice rinks with the wood floor laid over the top of the ice.
Ranking every NBA Champion from No. 72 to No. 1 — The Definitive List

1946: Granite State factory OPEN

In 1946.  the company’s Granite State Division in New Hampshire began operating two large plants. New Hampshire’s Granite State factory is opened.Eighty craftsmen are employed to sew the “ALL STAR”.

Today I’m working on a chapter about how Converse first arrived in Berlin. In April 1946, the Berlin Industrial Realty Corporation, headed by Alf Halvorson, purchased the former Lemieux-Oliver furniture factory from owner Sam Sigel, and immediately leased the Wight Street building to Converse Rubber Company. The Berlin plant opened that September, and was the company’s first expansion beyond its base in Malden, Massachusetts.
Converse Berlin NH

You would think this photo is from when Granite State Rubber Company first came to Berlin in 1946. But it’s not! Granite State rented this Wight Street building from 1946 to 1949, then moved to the NYA building on Willow Street by Memorial Field. Just two years later in 1951, they purchased the building on Wight Street and moved back! This picture is from the front page of the July 26, 1951 Berlin Reporter. The boy standing in front is unidentified.
1946年 ニューハンプシャー州のグラニットステイト工場を新設する。80人の職人が”ALL STAR”の縫製にあたる。

1947: Jack Kramer

→ SKID GRIP

John Albert “Jack” Kramer (August 1, 1921 – September 12, 2009) was an American tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s. A World No. 1 player for a number of years, and one of the most important people in the establishment of modern men’s “Open”-era tennis, he was the leading promoter of professional tennis tours in the 1950s and 1960s.
Jack Kramer
「近代テニスの父」ジャック・クレーマー(John Albert “jack” kramer)との契約はコンバーステニスシューズに最初の黄金期をもたらすことになる。

1940. Converse, which until then had only been known for its basketball products, introduced the skid grip. This marked the company’s entry into the tennis market, which was becoming popular again at the time.

In 1942, during the war, Converse entered into a partnership with Wilson Sporting Goods Company, which was revolutionizing the sports industry at the time. The two companies develop a strategy for the tennis sector: “Wilson for racquets and Converse for shoes”.

In 1947, Wilson wins three times in the men’s singles division. Jack Kramer (John Albert “Jack” Kramer), nicknamed “The Father of Modern Tennis”, wins three men’s singles titles, six men’s doubles titles and one mixed doubles title. kramer), the signing of the first golden age of Converse tennis shoes.

“Wilson & Converse” combination would later support two geniuses, Chris-Ebert and Jimmy Connors.

Kramer would retire in 1954 due to a back injury, but he became president of the professional tennis tour in 1952, and the French Open in 1968 launched the tennis world into the era of open professional players, after which tennis became a worldwide phenomenon. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in recognition of his achievements, and in 1972 he became the first chief executive of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the premier association of men’s tennis today.

1950-59

After providing protective footwear, special-purpose boots, parkas, and other equipment for the American Armed Services during World War II, the Stones concentrated on rapid growth in a civilian market. In 1946 the company’s Granite State Division in New Hampshire began operating two large plants.

第二次世界大戦中にアメリカ軍に防護靴、特殊用途のブーツ、パーカー、その他の装備品を提供した後、ストーン家は民間市場での急速な成長に集中しました。1946年には、ニューハンプシャー州グラニットステートにある2つの大規模な工場の操業を開始しました。

1960-69

After providing protective footwear, special-purpose boots, parkas, and other equipment for the American Armed Services during World War II, the Stones concentrated on rapid growth in a civilian market. In 1946 the company’s Granite State Division in New Hampshire began operating two large plants.

第二次世界大戦中にアメリカ軍に防護靴、特殊用途のブーツ、パーカー、その他の装備品を提供した後、ストーン家は民間市場での急速な成長に集中しました。1946年には、ニューハンプシャー州グラニットステートにある2つの大規模な工場の操業を開始しました。