Few objects have the same level of rebellious punk cred as a pair of black Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars (see: Ramones), so it’s no surprise that the brand has always tried to appeal to music fans over the years with various limited editions and marketing campaigns.
For their latest––and perhaps silliest––Converse Chuck Taylor yet, the company teamed up with wearable technology experts CuteCircuit to create a shoe with an embedded Wah peddle – AKA the Converse All Wah. The shoe was previously an experiment by experience design agency Critical Mass to coincide with the launch of a Converse social media campaign.
If CuteCircuit built the refreshed model anything like how Critical Mass built theirs, then the sole of the Chuck Taylor is loaded with the guts of a Vox Classic Wah Wah pedal connected to a flex sensor powered by an Arduino Nano to amplify the signal.
Somehow, Converse was able to enlist perma-stoned J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. to sling the new kicks on video, but the result, sadly, is less than stellar and shows little of what can be done with the effect. Anyhow, we’ll give Converse credit for trying:
