Al Davis is incredible on a skateboard which is why he has two new signature shoes from Converse. This new video celebrating this union will gift you none of the skateboarding however. What it will do is give you a window into his world, cruising around the streets of San Francisco in his car. This may not be the most captivating ad for a shoe we have ever seen but what is interesting are the shoes themselves…
The Pro Leather Mid is the one! This was the shoe endorsed by Julius Winfield Erving II or as he was more commonly known DR. J. in 1977 Dr.J was a trail blazer, this basketball shoe was the first ever to have a pro athletes name attached to it. This was also the Converse shoe we all used to buy to skate in years ago and it works. Given the Al Davis or AL D once over and what we have is a thing of beauty. Those DR. J’s we ran back in the day could have used a Lunarlon insole, that’s for sure, it makes these pretty perfect. This shoe looks amazing in White suede and the Panther embroidery stands out nicely on the heel tab. This shoe is one of our all time favourites and one of the first which springs to mind when we think of Converse and skateboarding. Al Davis didn’t rest there he plucked another interesting basketball shoe out of the ether…
This is the Fastbreak Mid from 1983, famously associated with Michael Jordan. This was ground breaking when it came out, super light whilst being supportive too. Both of these assets lend themselves to skateboarding and Al Davis definitely knew what he was doing while reviving overlooked silhouettes from the archives. Again his Panther appears embroidered on the heel, these understated signature shoes need no bells and whistles to stand alone. It’s always good to see something different out there and it takes a character like Al Davis to make these things happen. Shop for these new shoes and more from Converse HERE