How TikTok comments pushed Converse to bring back discontinued sneakers

If you scroll through the past two years of videos on Converse’s TikTok account, you’ll find hundreds of comments along the lines of “Bring back knee-high Converse!” “In any post and in any conversation we were having with consumers … there became quite a consistent line of, ‘Hey, bring back the XXHi,’ whether [the videos] were about them or not,” Converse Chief Marketing Officer Rodney Rambo told Ad Age. “More often than not,” the videos being pelted with demands for their return had nothing to do with Converse’s knee-high sneakers, he said, “and that really caught our attention.” Last week, Converse finally succumbed to that unwavering demand to bring its knee-high XXHi shoes back to store shelves after the brand discontinued the sneakers in the early 2010s. The updated version of the knee-highs includes a couple of tweaks to make it “relevant for today’s consumer,” such as a zipper that allows people to put on or take off the sneakers without completely unlacing the front, Rambo said. @converse happy now? 😜 the Knee High is yours june 28 on Converse.com. ♬ original sound - Converse While Converse didn’t officially reveal it would be reviving the sought-after sneaker model until a few weeks before their June 28 launch, the brand’s social media effort around the return of its XXHi sneakers was roughly two years in the making, Rambo said. It comes at a critical time for the brand as well: Despite the consumer demand around its knee-high sneakers, Converse’s revenue fell 14% in parent company Nike’s latest fiscal year, with an 18% decline in the fourth quarter. Converse encountered its first TikTok comment begging for the return of its knee-high shoes in 2021, around the same time Y2K fashion began making a nostalgia-fueled comeback. Many consumers have a similarly nostalgic view of Converse’s knee-highs, which the brand first released in 2006 and were especially popular within the emo and scene fashion subcultures that gained traction with millennial teens in the mid-2000s. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Consumers’ demands quickly snowballed from that initial request and began to consistently pop up across the brand’s social content—largely on TikTok, though Instagram users were also fairly vocal, Rambo said. And TikTok users also talked about the sneakers beyond Converse’s comments sections. The hashtag #KneeHighConverse currently sits at just under 33 million total views on TikTok. Converse and its social media agency, Day One Agency, rounded up a slew of the comments it received over the past few years in both its TikTok and Instagram posts announcing the relaunch. They span a wide range of emotion, from calm (“broski where are the knee highs”) to pleading (“Bring back Knee high converse please I’m begging 😭“) to unhinged (“I NEEEEEEEEEED THE KNEE HIGHS. I WILL SELL MY SOUL. I WILL NAME MY FIRST BORN ‘CONVERSE. PLEASE. ILL DO ANYTHING”). View this post on Instagram A post shared by Converse (@converse) In its Instagram announcement, Converse spoke directly to the consumers who had bombarded the brand with requests for the re-release of its knee-highs, dedicating the new launch to “the superfans that never stopped commenting.” Converse and Day One Agency further made those consumers “the stars of the [social] campaign” by assigning them yearbook superlatives such as “Most Likely to Buy Knee Highs Instead of Paying Rent” and “Most Likely to Have Scorpio in Their Birth Chart,” said Jamie Falkowski, chief creative officer and partner at Day One Agency. For brands, the comments section has become an increasingly vital resource to guide new product development. In April, e.l.f. Beauty unveiled new bronzing drops as a direct response to endless social media queries about when it would add them to its makeup lineup, e.l.f. Chief Marketing Officer Kory Marchisotto told Ad Age. And in May, Glossier opted to revert to its original lip balm formula after encountering widespread criticism of its newer, vegan formula across social media. “The consumer point of view really pushed us into a space where we knew we had to get back into delivering what their ask was,” Rambo said. “We were hearing it from our customers and in real-life scenarios, but the loudest voice definitely came through social media. The whispers … ultimately turned into yells, where you were seeing five, six, seven, eight comments on each video. And when you looked at who was liking [the comments], there was some volume there, too.” Playing the long game What the commenters lobbing demands at Converse didn’t know, though, was that the brand was actively working behind the scenes to redevelop the highly-requested sneakers and had begun doing so as far back as 2022. While Converse didn’t directly reveal that fact to its online audience, the brand made several social posts acknowledging the overwhelming demand for its knee-high shoes to show consumers “we were paying attention and we were hearing them,” Rambo said. On April Fool’s Day in 2022, for instance, Converse uploaded a TikTok video from Day One Agency, labeled “Unboxing my new knee high converse,” that endlessly looped footage of someone beginning to open a cardboard box. A year later, the brand nodded to the abundance of comments about the knee-high sneakers in a TikTok from Day One that has amassed nearly 700,000 likes and 5.5 million views. @converse me during our staff meeting 🧍 ♬ original sound - Converse Converse has also made several Threads posts about its knee-highs over the past year—three of which are among its most-liked posts on the platform. Post by @converse View on Threads Converse also wove several hints throughout its social content and partnerships that became less subtle as the launch date of the redesigned XXHi sneakers grew nearer, Rambo said. The brand gifted singer-songwriter SZA a pair of knee-highs to wear during her performance at Tyler the Creator’s annual Camp Flog Gnaw music festival (of which Converse is a partner) last November, and collaborated with Brooklyn designer Martine Ali on a grungier take on the XXHi sneakers this March, he said. After officially announcing the revival of its knee-high shoes in early June, Converse gifted the sneakers to over a dozen consumers who “had been asking for the product all along,” Rambo said. Their videos generated additional excitement around the relaunch later that month and helped steer the social media storytelling around the XXHi’s return, he said. @sarahmtimet 12 year old sarah is more impactful than she thinks ♬ tell me everything is about me but what if it is - yeehaw 🍉 “I think our strategy is quite simple—it’s always been about [consumers], so let’s keep them in the center of it,” he said. “People tell the best stories, not brands. And our consumers were asking for something that they felt was pretty special. So, it was best for us to listen, connect, engage and collaborate with them.” In the same vein, Converse turned to several influencers, such as Nava Rose and Kaila Hashimoto, to create the videos promoting the launch of the knee-high sneakers and reposted their videos on its TikTok channel rather than creating its own ads, Rambo said. @the.navarose The begging and wishing is finally over bc @Converse has brought back the iconic Knee Highs! 😭🫶🏼 Can’t wait to style these in so many looks 🎀 #conversepartner npc ib: @NYANE ♬ original sound - thenavarose Converse immediately saw high demand for the re-released sneakers both leading up to and on launch day, due in part to the substantial internet buzz around their comeback, he said. And the brand plans to continue sourcing insights about potential future variations on the sneakers and “what consumers may want to see next coming from this product,” he added. “It means so much that people were willing to take time out of their day to reach out and say, ‘Hey, Converse, I miss this,’ or, ‘I really want this in my life,’” Rambo said. “That, to me, is probably the most exciting thing about this style—that this was purely something that consumers came back to us and said, ‘This is something that we want, and it's a way that I can express myself that’s missing in my life. Converse, what say you?’ And we were able to deliver on it.” 40 under 40 entries are open The final deadline for nominations is Aug. 2 Enter here

How TikTok comments pushed Converse to bring back discontinued sneakers

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