A Classic Converse Skate Shoe Made in the Samba’s Image
You’re not seeing things. That is a Converse, not a Samba, but it’s definitely speaking the same language.
The new Converse Road Classic SK OX sneaker borrows the clean, flat-footed DNA of the world’s favorite terrace trainer and runs it through a skate filter, landing somewhere between a ‘70s football shoe and a skate shoe built to thrash. And that’s the key difference.
Yes, both the Samba & Converse Road Classic lean into low profiles, gum soles, and retro sport cues, but where the Samba stays pitch-perfect and sleek, the Road Classic SK OX adds bulk, grip, and skate muscle under the hood. The Converse is a skate shoe through and through.
And there is an established Converse precedent for this kind of sneaker. The Road Classic SK OX shoe actually pulls from an archival Converse model, the vintage Road Machine silhouette.
The Road Classic SK OX isn’t jumping on the Samba train, it predates it. This silhouette has deep roots in the Converse history books.
Although the timing of this revival is shrewd. It makes sense, with the Samba quietly reshaping everything from Miu Miu’s runways to Bottega Veneta moodboards lately, for Converse to blow the dust off this little-known Samba-flavored shoe.
And while Converse isn’t just copying the wave (it's got its own One Star skate lineage going back to the ’70s), this feels like a cultural remix, a little part homage mixed in with the flat-shoe (re)evolution.
If the Samba and One Star sneaker had a kid who skated curbs and cared about colorblocking, it’d probably look like this.
Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit the HS Style Guide for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.
