From the 1980s Hardwood to the Street: The Converse Weapon Still Goes Off in 2024
Emerging as a footwear juggernaut during the NBA’s golden era, the is still explosive in 2024. Laced by Hall of Fame hoopers in the 1980s, the old school scorer has once again caught fire thanks to assists by an all-star team of collaborators including and . Embracing its latest position as a lifestyle star, the Weapon is now arriving in a fresh arsenal of colourways, which includes both new and OG editions. To celebrate the launch, we took a look back to see how this wily veteran made its rip-roaring comeback.
Entering the Converse starting lineup in the 1980s, the Weapon is emblematic of the era's basketball silhouettes and had no trouble putting hardware in the trophy cabinet. Both Larry Bird and Magic Johnson wore the performance silhouette on their way to championship victories, with Bird donning the Weapon en route to the 1986 NBA Finals and Magic following suit during the 1987 and 1988 NBA finals. A sleek high-top sneaker frequently emblazoned in team colours, the Weapon was regularly outmuscling its rivals in the 1980s – even Isaiah Thomas and Kevin McHale had a pair!
All-leather, with bold branding graphics and white midsoles were common builds during this period of basketball trainers. In the modern day lifestyle market, many of these 80s hardwood icons, including the Weapon, have gone on to become kings of the asphalt. This is mostly thanks to skaters, who historically have favoured collegiate two-tone uppers and durable basketball builds for all-day boarding adventures. This was before skating was considered a sport, and way before it entered the Olympics, so sneakers made especially for thrashing were scarce. Many iconic hoop-geared models made this switch, sometimes without the wearers knowing of the basketball connection.
Fragment Design’s Hiroshi Fujiwara did just that, telling us last year: ‘I first discovered the Weapon when I was looking for shoes to skate in. I remember first seeing it on the shelf and thought the design was cool, and later I found out it was more like a basketball shoe.’ The streetwear godfather took to the model in 2023, kicking off a whole host of heavyweight collaborations that have helped clear the lane for general releases to come powering through. For the endeavour, Fujiwara added his signature minimalist visuals and colour palette to the silhouette, which reflected the Weapon’s journey beyond the hardwood to the streets of Tokyo as a tough-as-nails sneaker adopted by skaters in the late 1980s.
After Fragment Design, collaborators have been eager to elbow their way into the paint. LA’s Undefeated, Seoul’s Kasina and London’s A-COLD-WALL* (who brought their brutalist aesthetics to the Weapon Ox) all extolled the jet-setting influence of the Weapon. Hell, we even had an underworld remix by the Lord of Darkness himself, Rick Owens. With the help of these international teammates, the Weapon has now found itself in a new position as a lifestyle MVP, a role that enabled the Converse team to tinker under the hood of the hardcourt champion.
'While it has history on court, the silhouette is equally rooted in culture as well, so it’s fitting that we reintroduce it for lifestyle,' says Brodrick Foster, senior director of product merch. 'Since it no longer needed to function as a performance model, we were able to make minor design and material tweaks to dial it up for aesthetics that appeal to the modern sport style consumer but still providing the cushioning of the original.'
Debuted earlier this year when the 1980s champion touched back down, the Weapon Ox is a low-top, casual take on the model that further pushes into the lifestyle sphere. While it’s a newer design, OG flavour comes through with classic colourways of black and natural ivory, alongside vintage white, ash stone and egret. Modern interpretations of black and white, as well as a vintage white and vintage cargo execution also make their way to shelves. All models of course exude old school hoops aesthetics, including Star Chevron underlays, leather uppers, egret cupsoles and outsoles, and the Weapon’s indelible Y-bar. The 2024 version of the Weapon is ready to go off right now at .