For the seventh year in a row, Converse is dropping its always highly-anticipated Pride Collection, and this year, they're doing things big by celebrating the Found Family!
Just in time for Pride season, the beloved, classic shoe brand is launching a project that they call the Found Family campaign, which is a "vibrant series of original art, images, film and stories" from "more than 50 contributors to celebrate the dynamic LGBTQIA+ community." The project, which just launched, sees the brand teaming up with a handful of LGBTQ+ folks from Converse's "All Star" community (the brand's global network of young creatives), including Alli, Becki, Elianel, Jas, Thomas, Scotty, Reagan, Julian, Soma, Ilu, Isis, Paulos, and Jordan as well as Converse CONS skateboarding team rider, Brianna.
"The queer All Stars shared their stories on the importance of home, family, and support, and how their Found Families built them up with love and joy along the way," a statement from the brand reads. "Ranging from middle school friends to fellow skateboarders and designers."
The project is released in conjunction with the drop of this year's colorful Pride Collection, which includes an assortment of offerings like the Chuck 70, the Chuck Taylor All Star, and the Run Star Motion in high, as well as a Chuck Taylor All Star Lift Ox, an All Star Slide, and for the first time, the One Star, as well as an assortment of apparel and headwear.
Converse is also reporting that since 2015, they have donated and pledged more than $1.65 million in grants to support LGBTQIA +organizations and that within the past year, the brand has also doubled its pledged annual grants in support of the queer community. Their partners include the It Gets Better Project, BAGLY, Out MetroWest, The Ali Forney Center, COC Nederland, The Theater Offensive, Skate Like a Girl's Skateboarding Inclusivity Cooperative, and the Las Fotos Project.
Scroll through to see more images from the Found Family project and Converse's 2022 Pride Collection! For more info on Found Family, visit the project's official website, converse.gallery/found-family. And to browse the Pride Collection, visit converse.com/pride!
