Converse - One Star Hotel
Turning a sneaker drop into a cultural takeover
The Brief
The One Star was being reintroduced as Converse’s second icon product, a counterpoint to the Chuck Taylor and a chance to diversify the brand’s cultural relevance.
Our task was to launch it in a way that felt as rebellious and creative as the audience we were trying to reach: not through ads, but through an experience people would talk about.
The Work
We created the One Star Hotel, a five-storey pop-up in London’s Shoreditch that blurred the line between product, culture, and community. Each floor became an expression of the One Star’s attitude, curated by artists, designers, and musicians including A$AP Nast, Yung Lean, and MadeMe. The “rooms” were installations: pastel “Cotton Candy” spaces, late-night gigs, skate sessions, and drop zones for limited collections.
I led the Western Europe collaborations team in turning this moment into a broader cultural signal.
The experience became a hub for content, collaborations, and social storytelling that connected across Paris, Berlin, and Milan, amplifying the launch beyond its physical walls. From creative direction to partner management, the focus was on making Converse part of the conversation rather than interrupting it.
The Outcome
The One Star Hotel drew thousands through its doors, generated hundreds of millions of impressions, and helped redefine what a sneaker launch could be, part retail, part performance, part manifesto.
More importantly, it repositioned the One Star as a cultural icon in its own right, proving that when a brand gives people an experience worth sharing, it builds more than hype, it builds community.