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Making brands' Pride month more collaborative.

Converse joins Alexis Sablone for a pro skate Pride shoe.

When Pride month started, the rainbow mania took over brands' Instagrams. But how many times do those go beyond marketing and truly represent allyship?

Rainbow-washing is basically the concept that describes brands that jump on the Pride wagon to profit without doing tangible work towards the LGBTQ+ community all year long. That means not hiring queer people, donating to queer charities, or even giving them a platform to highlight the community.

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That's what Converse is trying to run from since the beginning of June. After dropping its Pride collection in partnership with LGBTQIA+ youth members — which will benefit the brand's longtime partners including It Gets Better Project, Ali Forney Center, BAGLY & OUT MetroWest —, there's news.

The brand connected with the queer skate community for ready-for-any-flip leather kicks. Converse has created a limited edition of the Pride Jack Purcell Pro with pro skater Alexis Sablone. This is the brand's first-ever pro skate Pride shoe.

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The white version features a rubber-backed leather embossed with a Lambda pattern, a LGBTQIA+ community symbol used in the '70s to represent their queerness. The black version, known as Jack Purcell Pro, features the More Color, More Pride flag on its woven heel tab, an embroidered transgender symbol in the tongue, and "Proud" printed on the sockliner.

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By picking Alexis Sablone to design every detail of the creation, Converse gives light on the skater's multi-field talents. Sablone not only is a pro CONS skater with seven X-Games medals under her belt but she's also a soon-to-be Olympian and an artist, architect, and animator.

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On the collaboration, Sablone shares that "a pride shoe stands for something powerful, and, as a queer person myself, it's very personal. A decade ago, the concept of a pride shoe didn't exist. It means a lot to get to design something people can wear that says, 'I’m proud of my identity' or 'I'm an ally' and support this movement and community.”

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The Alexis Sablone CONS JP Pro Mid are available at Converse's webstore for US$85.

Jump into our SNKRS sesh for fresh drops.

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