Brands
Converse and Isabel Marant honor Chuck Taylor and sneaker wedge
Mumbai: Converse and Isabel Marant have partnered for the first time to launch a capsule collection combining new and classic Converse styles with Isabel Marant’s Parisian aesthetic.
Marant, known for blending high and low fashion with spontaneity, independence, and natural elegance, aligns with Converse’s values. The collection will feature the new Chuck 70 Wedge and an updated Chuck 70, reflecting a mix of nostalgia and “Effortless Luxury.”
The Chuck 70 Wedge, with its hidden 2.5-inch heel, builds on Marant’s pioneering work with sneaker wedges from the 2010s. The collection also includes the Chuck 70 High Top and Chuck 70 Ox Low Top, showcasing Marant’s design elements with key Chuck details. Features include a frayed Jacquard upper, Marant’s logo on raw edge canvas, multi-colored pinstripes, and a translucent outsole. Colorways include Vanilla White and Raven for the Chuck 70 Wedge, Raven for the Chuck 70, and Vanilla White for the Chuck 70 Ox.
The Converse x Isabel Marant collection will be available on Converse.in from 12 September 2024 and on partner platforms VegNonVeg and Limited Edt from 13 September 2024. Pricing is Rs 11,499 for the Chuck 70 Ox, Rs 12,299 for the Chuck 70, and Rs 15,499 for the Chuck 70 Wedge.
The collaboration also introduces a new Chuck Taylor All Star Wedge, featuring a 2.5-inch hidden heel, available in black and white from 12th October 2024 on Converse.in and partner platforms. An inline Chuck 70 Wedge will also be released in the coming months.
Brands
Samsung certifies 1,000 Maharashtra students in AI and coding
The South Korean electronics giant marks its first large-scale skilling push in the state, with women making up nearly half the national programme’s enrolment
PUNE: Samsung has put 1,000 students in Maharashtra through a certified training programme in artificial intelligence and coding, the largest such drive the South Korean electronics company has run in the state and a signal that corporate India’s skilling ambitions are moving well beyond the boardroom brochure.
The certifications were awarded under Samsung Innovation Campus (SIC), the company’s flagship corporate social responsibility programme, which launched in India in 2022 with the stated aim of democratising access to future-technology education. The 1,000 graduates were drawn from four institutions: 127 from Savitribai Phule Pune University, 373 from Pimpri Chinchwad University, 250 from D.Y. Patil University’s Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology and 250 from Anjuman-I-Islam’s Kalsekar Technical Campus. All completed training in either AI or coding and programming, the two disciplines Samsung has identified as the critical pillars of the digital economy.
The programme does not stop at technical training. Soft-skills development and career-readiness modules are baked into the curriculum, a deliberate attempt to close the gap between what universities teach and what employers actually want.
“India’s digital growth story will ultimately be shaped by the quality of its talent pipeline,” said Shubham Mukherjee, head of CSR and corporate communications at Samsung Southwest Asia. “As technologies like AI move from the periphery to the core of industries, skilling must evolve from basic training to building real-world capability. This milestone in Maharashtra reflects how industry and academia can come together to create a future-ready workforce that is both globally competitive and locally relevant.”
The Maharashtra drive sits within a rapidly scaling national effort. Samsung Innovation Campus trained 20,000 young people across India in 2025, hitting its stated target for the year. Women account for 48 per cent of national enrolments, a figure the company cites as evidence of its push for an inclusive technology ecosystem. The programme is implemented in partnership with the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India and the Telecom Sector Skill Council.
Samsung, which is marking 30 years in India this year, runs SIC alongside two other initiatives, Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and Samsung DOST, as part of a broader effort to build what it calls a generation of innovators with both the technical depth and the problem-solving mindset to thrive in a fast-moving digital world.
A thousand certified students is a tidy headline. Whether they find jobs that match their new skills is the harder question, and the one that will ultimately determine whether corporate skilling programmes like this one are genuine pipelines or well-photographed gestures.
