On April Fool’s Day 2007 the members of Literary Criticism arrived at the Sherwood Diner in Westport and waited for a table. During this time we discovered that between the four of us there were only two shoe sizes. Sebastian and Rox matched. Andrew and myself matched. We each swapped one shoe, the majority of these being gray and black Converse All Stars.

While Rox and Seb switched back after brunch, Andrew and I never have. And never will. I’ve now developed an interest in always wearing two color Chuck Taylors with a preference for subtlety: Black and Gray; Maroon and Red; Navy and Powder Blue; etc. But there’s always the chic Black and Red with white laces isn’t there?

Converse really do work the best because of their stability as a product. They’ve been manufactured for decades with relatively little change in their construction or core color options. Unfortunately one must face the fact that they are no longer American shoes as the bankrupt Converse corporation was actually purchased by Nike and therefore the entire Converse line is now produced with sweatshop labor.