Converse’s latest collaboration with UNION features Sheila Bridges’ work

After dropping their collaboration with Jordan Brand late last month (and sometime this month at Titan), UNION partners with Converse featuring NY-based interior designer Sheila Bridges.

Bridges uses her most notable visual – the Harlem Toile – featured on the Chuck Taylor All Star and accompanying apparel.

A toile — short for “toile de Jouy” — is a printed material with a floral, figure or landscape design, typically seen in upholstery. Illustrating scenes of her experience of African American culture in her hometown by way of the French toile, Bridges’ Harlem Toile image (now preserved at The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum’s permanent wallpaper collection) was born out of a desire to design a pattern that spoke to her personally. 

“I didn’t ever see myself represented in any of the designs,” says Bridges, “so, I created my own.” 

Exhibiting a duality of expression, the toile plays on African-American stereotypes while also celebrating African-American culture — taking the viewer through scenes of subjects jumping rope, playing basketball, dancing and having picnics, all in 18th-century attire.  

The Chuck Taylor All Star, pullover hoodie and bucket hat all feature Bridges’ design as an allover print. Converse x UNION introduce the Chuck Taylor All Star capsule as part of Converse’s ongoing commitment to support Black creatives by amplifying their voices. 

The Converse x UNION Chuck Taylor All Star, pullover hoodie and bucket hat, each featuring Sheila Bridges’ Harlem Toile, is now available at Commonwealth. The Chuck Taylor All Star sold out immediately while the Pullover Hoodie retails for Php 5,269 and the Bucket Hat goes for Php 2,594.