Converse x FRGMT Weapon: Sneaker Release Date, Price, Where To Buy

In the 1980s it wasn’t Nike who dominated the sneaker landscape. No, it was another sneaker brand that was considered the shoe of the NBA. It was Converse. And now Converse is bringing back one of its most famous shoes of the 1980s in collaboration with Fragment on Thursday. It’s bringing back the Converse Weapon.

As I noted above, for a long time Converse was the shoe of the NBA. From the Chuck Taylors to the Pro Leathers to the Weapons, Converse was the titan of the basketball sneaker landscape. The recent Ben Affleck movie, Air, hit on this a bit in reference to Converse’s pursuit of a deal with Michael Jordan, but it was also seen in Converse’s famous ad in support of the Weapon featuring a cadre of NBA All-Stars.

The Weapon, while an icon of the 1980s, isn’t as well known to modern sneakerheads as something like the Air Jordan 1, but that is probably the most applicable comparison in terms of styling, design and build. Similar to the Air Jordan 1 the shoe features a leather upper along with a cup sole and the potential for multiple color blocking. Without featuring much of today’s modern technology, the shoe relies on its “Y bar” for additional support and its herringbone traction on the outsole for court grip. As seen in the commercial above, there were many different color blockings for different teams, most notably a Lakers-inspired colorway for Magic Johnson and a standard black and white colorway for Bird, Kevin McHale and the Celtics. Speaking of Bird and Magic, there was another iconic Weapon commercial starring just the two of them.

The shoe was retroed in 2010 and 2015, but unlike the Air Jordan line that’s been it as far as re-releases have gone. That means that for fans of the model or the history of Converse basketball, this is a rare opportunity to own a piece of the brand’s back catalog.

In terms of Thursday’s release, the other notable aspect is that the drop is a collab with Fragment Design and the legendary Hiroshi Fujiwara. Fragment is no stranger to working with Nike, having notably dropped it’s take on the Air Jordan 1, Air Jordan 3 as well as taking part in a triple collab with Travis Scott on the Air Jordan 1 in high and low cuts. Similar to those previous releases, the Fragment Weapons feature the brand’s now iconic white, royal and black colorway on the leather upper with the Fragment logo stamped on the back panel. The shoe also features Fragment branding on the insole. As has become somewhat of a trend these days, the shoe also features a sail/off-white midsole along with a black outsole.

Previous Fragment collabs have serious resale value, with three pairs having an average sale price of over $1,000 on StockX. The highest of these is the Air Jordan 1 from 2014, which has an average sale price of $3,331, which represents a price premium of 2126%. Even a less hyped release, like the Fragment take on the Air Jordan 35 still has an average sale price over $300. And I know it’s not apple to apples to compare Air Jordan resale prices to the potential prices of the Converse Weapon, but I do still think the Fragment co-branding will carry the release to strong value on the secondary market. Best of luck to all looking to pick up a pair!

To see more of this month’s releases, check out our release date calendar.