Converse To Release Writings of Kurt Cobain--On Its Shoes

A new limited-edition shoe from Converse will feature a design incorporating writings from Kurt Cobain's diary.

The new line of shoes will feature sketches, lyrics and writing by Cobain, as well as three sneaker designs featuring Cobain's signature. These are based on shoes worn by Cobain, who died from a gunshot wound to the head in 1994.

Courtney Love, the widow of the Nirvana frontman, has sanctioned the shoe line.

Converse released news of the Kurt Cobain line on the fan website nirvanaclub.com. The website says: "To honour Cobain, in May, Converse will debut their Kurt Cobain collection of shoes featuring artwork and scribbles borrowed from Cobain's personal notebooks. It will mark a central part of the yearlong 100th Anniversary 'Welcome to the Converse Century' celebration."

Converse, which was bought by Nike in 2003, is using a raft of celebrities for the anniversary campaign including rockers Joan Jett and Karen O, the journalist Jefferson Hack and rapper Common. They'll also be using many dead celebrities including writer and journalist Hunter S Thompson and Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, who both committed suicide, and Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious, who died of a heroin overdose while on bail charged stabbing his girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death. He also, famously, could not play the bass.

The campaign has been received with some ire in the blogosphere, with punk fans enraged at the commercial endorsement and others calling such campaigns tasteless.

Source: Brand Republic