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Converse Recalls Jimi Hendrix Shoe
The shoes, which sold for $60 on Zappos, Eastbay and the Converse websites, are no longer available.
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Converse has withdrawn a pair of Chuck Taylors shoes depicting guitar legend Jimi Hendrix with Hindi dieties following protests by Hindu community activists.
A Converse spokesman said, “We apologize for the unintentional offence and have decided to immediately discontinue the sales of the Jimi Hendrix/Axis shoes.”
In an email to Beth Kulkarni, of the Hindus of Greater Houston, who protested to Converse, the company spokesman wrote: “Converse designed the Converse Chuck Taylor Jimi Hendrix/Axis shoe to demonstrate our support of music culture and to celebrate the contributions of the global music icon, Jimi Hendri. With approval of the Hendrix estate, we applied artwork taken directly from the 1967 Axis: Bold as Love album cover. The cover art included images of Hindu deities. Our ambitions were to honor the music of Jimi Hendrix. It was not our intent to offend Hindu culture by having Hindu deities on footwear.” The shoes, which sold for $60 on Zappos, Eastbay and the Converse websites, are no longer available. |
