One of the most storied shoes in court history—especially tennis—never really went away, but it’s still making a massive comeback. Converse is reintroducing the Jack Purcell, launching the shoe this fall in the brand’s premium First String treatment while teasing future iterations of what the brand calls its second most storied shoe.
For tennis fans, it’s certainly number one. And with ample reason.
Originally created as a signature badminton shoe in 1935 by Canadian world champion Jack Purcell, tennis players soon usurped the model as it captured key market share through the 1960s as a performance tennis shoe also worn by golfers and sailors. Converse bought the rights to the shoe crafted by B.F. Goodrich Company of Canada in 1972 and reissued it multiple times over the decades. Now, though, comes a complete rethinking of the model as the Converse First String Jack Purcell, launching Sept. 8.
“The Jack Purcell is one of our most iconic models and we have seen many different identities since its inception,” Alex Restivo, product director of special projects for Converse, tells me, adding that the Jack Purcell has been relatively quiet in the last five years. “We saw a moment happening within the court space and we have a deep history in court, so now is the time to strike.”
The First String Jack Purcell
In fall 2025, Converse debuted its First String platform, launching the brand’s iconic Chuck Taylor as a “pinnacle execution,” a luxury platform that amps up the brand’s key silhouettes. The Chuck represents a high-top offering, while the First String Jack Purcell introduces a low-top expression.
Giving the Jack Purcell the luxury treatment befits the shoe. “Jack Purcell as a person was known for his quiet confidence and the Jack Purcell is one of those quiet confidence shoes for people who know what they’re looking for,” Restivo says. “It was a perfect marriage with First String.”
The launch features both an all-white design and a mountain green/white version and brings premium materials in line with First String, all heavily informed from the Converse Jack Purcell archives.
“Working on First String was a crazy rewarding experience,” Restivo says. “The designer and I had so much fun crafting this collection. When we created First String, we treated it as a love letter to our icons. We wanted to make sure we could create the best of the best version of that icon. Looking back at all the different versions, we wanted to take the best of shape, detailing, materials, fit, all those things through the decades and apply it to this version.”
To start, the new Jack Purcell features an updated last for a wider forefoot. The toe cap shape—where Purcell’s iconic “smile” gets embedded in the rubber—features a shorter profile reminiscent of the early 1980s. The collar top-line rises slightly, reminiscent of styles in the 1970s and 1980s. The heel stay widens and adds new stitching details while the stitching across the upper reflects a larger arch aesthetic pulled from the mid-‘70s. The vent eyelets are sunk into the top of the foxing, something taken from the ‘80s. The license plate at the heel is updated to the ‘70s-era JP script and wedge logo.
Other premium updates include the original rubber outsole now featuring Vibram for durability and traction, premium leather uppers, a sockliner built with Nike CX foam, Nike Air technology, premium laces, beveled eyelets and a lace keeper to stabilize the tongue.
Restivo says that even with the updates, the team was careful not to overstep the shoe’s history, instead digging through past versions to create the best version of a Jack Purcell.
“If you are going to Wimbledon, you only need to pack one pair of shoes,” Restivo says about the First String Jack Purcell. “You can wear it out to a very nice restaurant and be the most stylish person or you can wear it to a match. It is court appropriate in all aspects.”
The Jack Purcell Smile
If nothing else, the smile defines a Jack Purcell. When Purcell worked with the rubber company to craft the shoe in the 1930s he personally created the rubber toe cap to create durability during drag. Purcell highlighted his nickname of “the smiler” by embedding a smile within the toe’s rubber.
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“Different versions had been nuanced in so many different ways, but we had to get that area right,” Restivo says about the smile. “It can ben polarizing. The proportion on this is so much different than Jack Purcells we have created in the past—in a great way. It is the one detail I love the most.”
That detail helps define the model.
The Jack Purcell is the oldest signature shoe used in tennis. While originally created for and by the world champion badminton player, the shoe quickly made its way onto the tennis court. Stan Smith once told me that in the 1960s players were wearing either Converse or Jack Purcells. The two became one as Converse acquired the rubber company’s athletic shoe line in 1972. The Jack Purcell eventually transitioned into a lifestyle sneaker and went through a skate phase in the mid-1990s. Nike bought Converse in 2003, introducing a variety of styles over the years, including a Jack Purcell Signature in 2015.
“The Jack Purcell,” Restivo says, “is one of the most important silhouettes in our archive.”
The Future of the Jack Purcell
The Converse First String Jack Purcell offers a luxurious reintroduction of the storied court shoe. But it won’t be the last iteration. “We are really excited about the future of the Jack Purcell,” Restivo says. “It is an amazing shoe, and we are excited to bring it into the court world and excited to see what’s coming next.”
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