Chuck's, Converse or All-Stars, you may know them by many names but anyone who wears Converse knows that the more dirty and worn-in they look, the cooler and more comfortable they are!
Steps
- Buy a pair of high top Converse from any Converse retailer or choose a pair from your closet - the dirtier, the better!
- Soak in some thinned out mud or smear some red clay on the outside only and let stand on top of or underneath the radiator or under a heat lamp to let the shoe look more worn in. Leave the shoes for at least 2 hours but overnight works better.
- In either a plastic basin or the sink, place the filthy shoes and add about a tablespoon of detergent into each shoe and fill the basin/sink with enough water to cover completely.
- Take a nail brush and scrub the Converse until they are a little faded and stained.
- Empty the sink/basin of the filthy water and refill with clean hot water.
- Then take each converse out of the water and with either a bleach pen or a small container of bleach and a cotton swab, draw/paint any designs wherever you want.
- Let sit on either the radiator or under a heat lamp for anywhere up to an hour, any longer and the fabric will become too weak to wear.
- Place the Converse back into the water with some more detergent and scrub with the nail brush until you think that the bleach is washed off completely.
- Rinse twice to make sure that all soap particles are gone and either stuff each shoe with a small towel and leave to dry naturally, place under the radiator/heat lamp until dry or blow dry on high.
- Take a black permanent marker and sign the side of one shoe in addition to colouring in all of the white rubber parts and the trademark Converse star/circle thing.
- Wear your battered and worn-in Converse everywhere and soon enough the black coloured in part will become black/gray and scuffed and the front third of the shoe will start to look arched in the rocking motion that we walk in (heel to toe).
Tips
- Layering the amount of bleach in random spots makes them look more naturally vintage.
- Do everything on the list with the laces on to make it even cooler looking.
- To help the wearing-in process, I practiced my ballet and gymnastics routines in them and whenever possible played any sort of ball-kicking or running sport (e.g soccer, lacrosse, ball-hockey, track & field).
- If they start to fall apart, then Super-Glue them back together but to make sure that they stay in place while the glue dries, duct tape them in place.
Warnings
- When letting the bleach set with heat, make sure that it's done in a well-ventilated room or right by a window as bleach fumes can be toxic.
Things You'll Need
- One Pair of Converse Hi-Tops in any bright or dark colour (The bleaching won't work on any light colours such as yellow)
- Bleach pen/Quarter cup of bleach and some cotton swabs
- Mud/Red clay
- Detergent
- Nail/shoe brush
- Heat lamp/Blow dryer/Radiator
- Black permanent marker
