Converse Gore-Tex Soho Survivor Chuck Taylor All Star High 'Black White'
Colorway: Black/White/White · Style code: 165941C · Release date: April 6, 2019 · Price: $213 · Availability: Available now
Canvas is the worst possible material for rain, which has always been the weak point of wearing Chucks year round. The Soho Survivor treatment answers that by building a Gore-Tex membrane into the shoe: a layer that blocks liquid water from getting in while still letting water vapour escape, so the shoe stays dry without turning into a plastic bag.
Converse kept the styling deliberately plain, black upper over white rubber, so the shoe passes for an ordinary high-top until the weather turns. The name points at city use rather than trail use, which is honest about what it is for: puddles and slush, not hiking. At $85 it was priced above a standard canvas All Star, the membrane and the reworked upper accounting for the difference. Our records date the release to 6 April 2019.