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solemate_hana
not 4 a gurl! sigh.

lakshay
hawt..hot! :p

lakshay
uhhh.. de r awesome.. i need dem..

arochwani
true hot rods are still da no.1 in ma wishlist!!!

karanh
I'd still prefer the hot rods over these...

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Converse Chuck Taylor Sailor Jerry Hi review ( Not available in India)

By sneakerologist
Published: July 19, 2008

Land Ahoy!

Ah, Chuck Taylors. Its been quite a while I reviewed a pair of Chucks on solereview, and with good reason. There simply aren't any great Chucky T's available in India. Sure, there are a few good Ol' classics, a couple of Star EV's and Jack Purcells selling here, but nothing more. My recent trip to the neighborhood Planet Sports store turned out to be a relative disappointment, because I was looking for some cool printed Chuck Taylors, and as you can guess it, there were none. The guys at Converse India simply don't get it.

So the quest for finding a pair of kick ass Chucks led me to a Converse store in the US, and I picked up three Chuck Taylors - the Sailor Jerry Hi, the Sketched Hi and the Military Patched Hi. Since I found the Sailor Jerry version to be the most evocative, and with an interesting story to tell, I picked them as the first to be reviewed today.

Tribute to the "Sailor": Norman 'Sailor Jerry' Collin's work now on canvas

I have always been in love with printed Chuck Taylors. Printed Chucks have been around for a long time; popular favorites like the graffiti Chucks and the flame Hi's are seen on the feet of many across the globe. But very few prints actually tell a story, and the Chuck Taylor Sailor Jerry Hi is one of them which does. The print on this Chuck Taylor is the work of the legendary Tattoo artist Norman 'Sailor Jerry' Collin (1911-1974) who started his life as a sailor-explorer and then went on to become one of the most celebrated Tattoo artists. Drawing inspirations and insights from his days as a seaman, he sketched incredible tattoos full of life and energy. His creative influences came from his travels to the Far East (Asia) and Hawaiian bars full of macho sailors with beefy arms, each sharing his story of adventure and travel. Women were by far and large a popular subject for Sailor Jerry's work and many of his tattoos are larger than life sketches of bar dancers and pin-up girls in the forties and fifties. Here's a collage of pictures of Norman 'Sailor Jerry' Collins and some of his work. You can also go to the website www.sailorjerry.com for more on the man and his work.

Life is beautiful: Pictures of 'Sailor Jerry' and some of his creations. One of the other Sailor Jerry Chuck Taylors has the tiger tattoo which you see above. I wanted to buy that too, but it was out of stock.

Bar dancer on canvas: The second best thing to an actual Sailor Jerry tattoo on your bicep.

'Death or Glory': Apt words for an adventurous seafarer. This inscription is printed in all the Chuck Taylors which are part of the Sailor Jerry collection.

Converse released the printed Sailor Jerry Chuck Taylor series with the prints being taken directly from the original Sailor Jerry tattoos, and this particular Chuck Taylor is one of the many in the series. This tattoo is of a bar dancer pin up girl reminiscent of the fifties, and probably adorned the biceps of many sailors in those days. This Chuck Taylor is as American as it can be; the sailor tattoo and the Chuck Taylors are popular icons of American culture, so when the two combine, you have a pair of Chucky T which screams Americana without any hint of subtlety. When I was shopping for these shoes, I came across other Sailor Jerry Chucks, but there were either sold out or did not quite catch my eye like this one did. The bar dancer tattoo print is nicely done on canvas; it has a slight gloss to it, so it's quite a head turner if you choose to wear long shorts with them. The skin tone, the blond hair and the flaming red dress is executed perfectly on the print - this one certainly makes for a collectors item. The tongue also has an element of surprise on it; the size label has been pushed down to make way for a printed "Sailor Jerry, 1911-1973" and "Death or Glory", the words which Norman Collins lived by.

If you leave out the print, it is otherwise a regular pair of Black Chucks. It has the same wraparound white rubber midsole and a black diamond patterned outsole. But the point here is that though the US tattoo culture and its history might be lost on lots of people in India, no one can take away the fact that you have a very cool looking pair of Chuck Taylors, enough to start conversations wherever you go in them.

And to the guys who run the Converse show in India, I only have one thing to say - show us the real Chucks! We love the classic Chucks you sell, but we already own all the colors...