Even Classic Converse Shoes Are Skate Loafers Now
Anything can be a loafer if you just believe. Now, Converse and Japanese fashion label Graphpaper are entering the skate loafer league with a surprisingly classic shoe.
Tokyo-based Graphpaper has turned a classic Converse sneaker into a sporty loafer with the Jack Purcell Loafer GP (“GP” for “Graphpaper”). The shoe retains the Jack Purcell’s low profile and “smile” on the midsole, wearing a suede upper with tonal stitching accented by a legit penny loafer “bridge” at the forefoot.
Despite the luxe upper, Graphpaper’s Converse sole unit reiterates the sports feel innate to Converse, reinforced with extra rubber for extra skate appeal.
Note that this is a collaboration with Converse Japan, not the Nike-owned Converse, which often reissues this kind of oddball archival silhouettes (though there are plenty of Converse loafers to be had either way).
As it stands, this is already a hella-hybrid shoe. It's a sneaker, it's a loafer, it's a sneaker-loafer, we know the deal. But Graphpaper's Converse loafer takes the merged shoe thing to a whole new level because not only is it a sneaker and loafer — It's also a wedge.
Yes, the Jack Purcell Loafer GP, available soon on Graphpaper's site, has a wedge heel, meaning this shoe isn't just tapping into the hybrid sneaker trend: It's also dipping its rubber toe into the pool of semi-controversial sneaker design.
Wedge sneakers are historically contentious but their cool factor has been bolstered by a slew of recent events, like the Isabel Marant resurgence fueled by A$AP Rocky and Y2K nostalgia. Plus, if there was anyone who could make wedge loafers cool, it's Graphpaper. This is a brand that’s mastered high-quality basics, so turning up a standard Converse sneaker is just another day in business.
Last year, Converse and Graphpaper released a similarly skate-y Vans-like slip-on sneaker. But it's not just Converse. Graphpaper has also done Samba-coded sneakers with Reproduction of Found and chair-inspired Mizuno shoes. Clearly, Graphpaper knows good shoe business and, well, good business shoes.
