The brand is enduring an unusually long, deep cold streak. Analysts blame the falloff on Converse\u2019s inability to innovate and its overreliance on the Chuck Taylor model, <\/span>Fortune\u2019s <\/span><\/i>Phil Wahba reports<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Vans, owned by VF Corp, has had a similarly hard time in recent years for the same reason: over-reliance on skater shoes in distinctive checkered patterns. \u201cWe\u2019ve never seen a 44% decline in demand for a brand,\u201d BNP Paribas analyst Laurent Vasilescu noted, citing Converse\u2019s sales deterioration in the fiscal quarter that ended in November 2025. The analyst said he wouldn\u2019t be surprised if Nike ultimately decided to sell off Converse.<\/span><\/p>\n Steven Bartlett Built an Audience of Millions. What Does He Owe Them?<\/span> | Fortune Daily<\/span><\/p>\n Ex\u2013OpenAI engineer accused of bugging office stays in jail as prosecutors allege Saudi ties: \u2018Once he leaves, there\u2019s no getting him back\u2019<\/span> – Emily Forlini and Wen Shao<\/span><\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s drones lose their Starlink link above 100 mph. Musk, Rubio, and Trump all say it wasn\u2019t them<\/span> – Steven John<\/span><\/p>\n Zuckerberg spent years building on Apple\u2019s terms. His $100 billion-plus AI bet is about owning everything<\/span> – Molly A. Wallace<\/span><\/p>\n Larry Page could dodge nearly $15 billion in taxes after leaving California and spending $173 million on a Miami compound<\/span> – Sydney Lake<\/span><\/p>\n An Ohio court\u2019s ruling against $776 million in vouchers reignites the fight over who should pay for private school<\/span> – Bilin Lin<\/span><\/p>\n Strangers are paying up to $150 for empty seats at weddings all because one couple ran out of date-night ideas\u201420,000 people have signed up<\/span> – Catherina Gioino<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t vilify data centers for the wrong reasons \u2014 just demand better ones<\/span> – Adhum Carter Wolde-Lule<\/span><\/p>\n S&P 500 futures were marginally down before the New York open after a tough day for markets in Asia and Europe. Traders sold off after oil hit $111 per barrel this morning, an AI IPO in South Korea lost 30% on its debut, and the yield on the French 10-year bond hit 4.94%, a level it has not seen since 2002.<\/span><\/p>\n The bad news began in Asia, with <\/span>the market debut of AI cloud provider Elice<\/span>. Its IPO was modest\u2014raising just $150 million\u2014but the fact that its stock tanked upon launch was a reminder that investors have lingering skepticism about AI. Nasdaq futures declined as well.<\/span><\/p>\n Although the supply of oil from the Middle East has increased in recent days, its price went up anyway after <\/span>Saudi Arabia canceled<\/span> its Future Investment Initiative conference\u2014better known as \u201cDavos in the Desert\u201d\u2014following Houthi attacks on the airport in Riyadh. Alphabet president Ruth Porat, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink had been billed as attendees. The Houthis also struck two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n And then there is France. The government imposed a curfew on major cities last night after nights of rioting and looting on the streets of Paris. Video on social media showed distressed shopkeepers begging young men to stop stealing their inventory\u2014and those young men pushing them aside to grab shoes and food from their shelves. Similar unrest spread to Milan yesterday. With no end to the crisis in sight, investors again ditched French bonds, pushing up their yields. \u201cLatest dynamics show signs of global, not just French debt crisis,\u201d <\/span>Commerzbank\u2019s Christoph Rieger said in a note<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Historically, the U.S. federal government takes in about 18% of GDP in the form of various taxes, according to Thomas Carroll and Miles Matyiko at Stifel. Unfortunately, the government then spends the equivalent of 24% of GDP on its various programs. Note the yellow band\u2014interest on the national debt\u2014which is expanding fast.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2014Ed Yardeni & Toby Hearst, writing in a note titled, \u201cYes, AI Is Too Big To Fail.\u201d Their argument is that recent wobbles in the market for AI corporate debt won\u2019t result in a full-blown crash. \u201cIf some AI-related credits do blow up, the Godfathers of the AI mafia (along with their protectors in the government) will clean up the mess,\u201d they say.<\/span><\/p>\n Freshfields apologises \u2018unreservedly\u2019 over Middle East comments in email leak<\/span> – FT<\/span><\/p>\n Albertans have made ‘clear choice’ to remain part of Canada, says PM Mark Carney<\/span> – BBC<\/span><\/p>\n What\u2019s making Europe so angry? The frustration behind the protests<\/span> – CNBC<\/span><\/p>\n Hegseth meets Netanyahu on unannounced Israel visit<\/span> – Axios<\/span><\/p>\n Netflix, America\u2019s Dominant Streaming Service, Has Hit a Wall<\/span> – WSJ<\/span><\/p>\n Merz Warns Europe That It\u2019s Underestimating Russia\u2019s Threat<\/span> – Bloomberg<\/span><\/p>\n Russian Satellite Makes a Menacing Approach to Another Craft in Orbit<\/span> – NYT<\/span><\/p>\n Feds have DNA evidence that could prove Ilhan Omar wed her brother, committed immigration fraud: sources<\/span> – NY Post<\/span><\/p>\n It used to be hard to walk through an office without hearing \u201clet\u2019s circle back\u201d or \u201clet\u2019s take this offline,\u201d but a study from online language-learning platform Preply suggests some of corporate America\u2019s favorite buzzwords are losing their grip.<\/span><\/p>\n Preply analyzed 3,000 Reddit posts and comments about corporate jargon. \u201cCircle back\u201d was the most complained-about phrase, with 203 mentions. It beat \u201csynergy\u201d (181), \u201cbandwidth\u201d (97), \u201ctouch base\u201d (96), and \u201ctake this offline\u201d (62).<\/span><\/p>\n A lot of people don\u2019t seem to know what common business words mean. Among the jargon pulled from Reddit, the most-searched terms were \u201cparadigm,\u201d with 311,000 monthly searches, and \u201csynergy,\u201d with 310,000. After those come \u201cbest practice,\u201d with 303,000, and \u201cbandwidth,\u201d with 187,000.<\/span><\/p>\n If you want to \u201cclose the loop\u201d on this \u201cdeep dive,\u201d <\/span>read Sasha Tuddenham\u2019s story here<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n #Nike #ditch #Converse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Converse makes up just 2.5% of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10216,3647,515,516,456,166,381,1744],"class_list":["post-7123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-converse","tag-ditch","tag-economics","tag-fortune-500-digest-weekday","tag-iran","tag-markets","tag-news","tag-nike"],"yoast_head":"\nMORE FROM FORTUNE<\/h3>\n
THE MARKETS<\/h3>\n
A lot of things are going wrong all at the same time<\/b><\/h2>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/oil.png?format=webp&w=1440&quality=75\"\/)
<\/div>\nCHART OF THE DAY<\/h3>\n
How the U.S. government takes in, and then overspends, your money<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screenshot-2026-10-19-at-153649.png?format=webp&w=1440&quality=75\"\/)
<\/div>\nQUOTE OF THE DAY<\/h3>\n
\u201cMichael Corleone has too much at stake to let his brother Fredo screw up the family business.\u201d<\/b><\/h2>\n
THE FRONT PAGES TODAY<\/h3>\n
ONE MORE THING<\/h3>\n
Running it up the flagpole: Gen Z wants to kill your favorite office clich\u00e9s<\/b><\/h2>\n
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