Sneakerhead

Focus : Identities and exchanges

I am a sneakerhead

START

Introduction

A history of the Converse All Star

The evolution of converse

INDEX

Sneakers and US teens

Sneakers : a way to define our identity

Final Project

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INTRODUCTION

1) Fill in the grid below.

1st young man

2nd young man

21

22

Age

20

Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Where they live

300

100

Number of shoes

2) Does the second man wear his shoes ? Why (not) ?

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INTRODUCTION

3) Match the dates with the corresponding events.

Remove the last line

mid 1800s

Black urban communities became the new sneaker market.

1917

Goodyear invented the vulcanised rubber sole.

Try again

Great !

1980s

Converse created the first canvas top basketball sneaker.

4) Tick the correct statements.

Both young men are sneakerheads.

Great !

The sneaker culture is different from the hip-hop and streetwear culture.

Sneakers are sometimes like art, that is why they are exhibited in museums.

Owning a pair of famous sneakers is absolutely not a status symbol.

They estimate their total expenses on sneakers up to $50,000.

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A history of the Converse All Star

1) Read the text and complete the grid.

Dates

Events

1908

Creation of the Converse Rubber Shoe Company.

1917

Creation of the first performance athletic shoe.

1921

Charles “Chuck” Taylor joined the company as a salesman.

Taylor's signature was printed on sneakers.

1922

over the past century

Titans of culture including Elvis Presley, strapped on All Stars.

Today

Democratisation of those shoes ("affordable").

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A history of the Converse All Star

Petit rappel : * Pour lire une année en anglais, on la coupe en deux. Ex: 1922 se lit nineteen twenty-two. * Pour les années 2000 à 2009, on lit "two thousand and...". * Pour les années 2010 à aujourd'hui, on peut soit couper en deux soit lire "two thousand and...". Entraîne-toi et lis les dates suivantes à haute voix: - 1917 - 1908 - 1840 - 2003

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A history of the Converse All Star

2) True or false ?

a) The Converse Rubber Shoe Company was created in Massachusetts. b) Chuck Taylor was a football player. c) The branding strategy was developed thanks to the logo and Taylor's signature printed on the shoe. d) Those shoes have always been expensive.

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A history of the Converse All Star

3) Find the correct translation in the text.

rubber soles

des semelles en caoutchouc: s'aventurer: un vendeur: une cheville: abordable: sans égal: baisser/chuter: porter un vêtement (infinitif/ passé/ participe passé) : une marque: promouvoir:

venture

a salesman

an ankle

affordable

unrivaled

fall off

wear / wore / worn

a brand

endorse

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Warming-up: How do you say ... ?

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The evolution of converse

Watch the video and take some notes.

20

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The evolution of converse

Watch it again and match each date with the correct event.

Converse became old-fashioned, but it also became a symbol of rebellion in the music industry.

1970s

1980s

New competitors appeared in the sneaker market.

1990s

Nike bought Converse for $305 million.

2003

Nike and Adidas became the top brands.

Try again

Great !

Remove the last line

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The evolution of converse

20

What do all these bands have in common: The Clash, Iron Maiden and Pink Floyd ?

How many pairs of sneakers did Converse sell by its 80th birthday ?

over 600 million

over 60 million

60 million

600 million

Try again

Great

Find the two reasons why Converse struggled financially for decades.

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Warming-up: What happened in ... ?

1980s

2003

1970s

1990s

STACK

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sneakers and US teens

Look at the infographic.

a) Present the document (type/ source/ date/ subject). b) Say which brand US teens prefer according to this document. prefer ___ to ___ / prefer ___ rather than ___ c) Do you like some of these brands ? Do you buy their products ? Why (not) ?

Source: statista.com

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which one ?

Observe the two shoes present on the picture and react ! Compare them. (see the worksheet given in class => Unit 3: Disney)

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which one ?

The left shoe is the authentic one whereas the other one is a counterfeit (a fake/ a copy). Contrary to the shoe on the right, the shoe on the left has the name of the brand written on it.

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Sneakers : a way to define our identity

Observe the photos below and react ! Describe what you can see.

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a way to define our identity

Brian Jungen is a leading Canadian artist from Native American ancestry. His artistic expression is based on First Nations identity, on poetry, but also on inequality and consumerism. He graduated with a diploma in Visual Art in 1992, and then studied art history. He uses ordinary everyday objects to turn them into works of art and pay tribute to his Native American ancestry. He was inspired both by watching his relatives recycle objects and by his Indigenous heritage. The artist used Nike Air Jordans to make up traditional aboriginal masks. The red, white and black colours of Nike Air Jordans are the same traditional colours of the Haida, an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest coast, with whom Jungen shares ancestry. He has exhibited his work in art galleries and museums, both in Canada and the US.

A mask made of sliced Nike sneakers by Canadian artist Brian Jungen

Virgil Abloh is a multifaceted American artist: a designer, artist and DJ. He is the creative director of Off-White and Louis Vuitton men’s collections. He was born in 1980. He started collecting sneakers as a child and now owns about 1,500 pairs. An exhibition of Abloh’s work opened at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in 2019. It shows his interests from Renaissance painting to the deconstructed Air Jordans he created for Nike, which he considered as a work of art. According to him, sneakers link you to your childhood and your parents, to your first pair. They stir* emotion. He also believes they are part of Black culture. He founded a scholarship** to make sure there is more diversity in design, and to open up doors to artistic creation. *provoquer • ** bourse

Faith Ringgold is a New York artist born in 1930 in Harlem. She grew up in an artistic environment and later on she studied art in college. She has been influenced by poetry and music. Her art is extremely varied: from painting and sculptures to children’s books. She collaborated with, among other artists, the MoMA and Vans to design a sneaker collection: the Faith Ringgold Era Sneakers. Her work also highlights her experiences with racism and social injustice: “My mother said I’d have to work twice as hard to go half as far.” This quote is printed on the pair of the Vans sneakers midsole.

MoMA and Vans Faith Ringgold Era Sneakers, 2020

Virgil Abloh's exhibition, "Figures of Speech", Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 2019

Adapted from Hit the Road

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a way to define our identity

Read the texts and complete the ID cards.

Faith Ringgold

Virgil Abloh

Brian Jungen

1930

1980

Canadian

Visual Art / art history

Harlem

American

Art

designer, artist * DJ, creative director

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a way to define our identity

Work on the double page and complete the table below.

Artists

Defining their identity: sources of artistic inspiration

Reason for their interest in sneakers

Native American ancestry / poetry / inequality / consumerism

turn sneakers into works of art and to link sneakers and aboriginal masks.

Brian Jungen

collaboration with a museum (MoMA) and Vans

poetry / music / racism and social injustice

Faith Ringgold

Renaissance painting + Air Jordans / Black culture / childhood

He has collected sneakers since his childhood.

Virgil Abloh

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conclusion

Complete the SWOT analysis.

STRENGTHS: WEAKNESSES: OPPORTUNITIES: THREATS:

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correction

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FINAL project

• Create your own sneakers:

a) the model; b) the logo; c) the brand; d) the colour(s)/ patterns; e) the material(s).

• Describe them.
• Present the SWOT analysis of your product/ brand.