Dive Brief:

• Converse, founded in 1908, has been making its iconic “Chuck Taylor” shoes since 1915, named for the basketball player who went to the company for help with sore feet and ended up working there to develop and promote the new shoes.

• Now owned by Nike, Converse Tuesday filed 22 trademark-infringement lawsuits against 31 companies, including retailers Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Kmart, and Skechers, for lifting key design elements of its Chick Taylor shoes. 

• Converse has also filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission, which could prevent items from entering the United States if they’re deemed to be counterfeit.

Dive Insight:

Converse is suing for monetary damages in these lawsuits, but says its major aim is to stop retailers from selling shoes that it says too many people could mistake for genuine Converse All-Stars sneakers. Trademark infringement can be tricky to prove in court, especially in the fashion world, where designs lead to trends and design influences are par for the course.

Still, there are elements to Converse’s Chuck Taylor design that are clearly recognizable as unique to its arguably iconic All-Stars shoe, which were offered as an alternative to more formal styles in the 1950s and '60s. 

“You had the greasers versus the bobby-soxers,” Ellen Goldstein, Fashion Institute of Technology professor of accessory design, told the New York Times. “And then in the ’60s you had the hippie generation and the nonconformists.”