The shades on my hotel room window raised up at around 7am. I wasn’t to meet the Canadian delegation in the lobby till 9, but I wanted to get a jump on the day and I do get nervous a bit when I’m up at bat to produce for a company that’s been so good to me. I’m in New York City, getting ready in a sleek hotel, about to grub with the dopest of creatives. All this is made possible by Converse, our gracious host.

Breakfast talks are the best. Everyone is fresh and ready to rock, especially in this setting where the agenda for the day is to get the word out as best you can. We’re the first to get a glimpse of what Converse has to offer. First in the world, then the world gets their peak. Incredible!

We file out the door and swarm onto the cobblestone streets of the Meatpacking district and end up at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Non sneaker related, we got to experience floors 8, 7, 6 of the exhibit. While I walked through the installations I could only imagine this was primer for the next step in this Converse launch. Art to forward new art.

A short luxurious ride later we are ushered into a space set with pieces from Converse’s archive. All attendees are camera heavy and devouring the displays of classic, worn-in sneakers. Snap! Snap! Snap! And we dive into the history with Converse archivist, Samuel Smallridge. The rubber, the canvas, the lines… Staying true to what has made Converse a standard in fashion and sneaker lore…

And quick, like what seemed to be a second, we started filing into the basement…