UNDERCOVER makes Vans OTW’s luxe skate shoes a canvas for art. Anarchic art. Anarchic self-referential art. On a couple classic Vans sneakers. Why not?
Actually, UNDERCOVER and Vans OTW’s collaboration feels quite appropriate.
Vans OTW’s higher-end iterations of the classic Vans Era and less-classic Sk8-Mid shoes serve as hardy canvases for UNDERCOVER’s inimitable artistic inclinations, offering ample space to reflect upon some classic UC motifs all in service of a simple color scheme.
What’s white and black and red all over? UNDERCOVER x Vans OTW.
Except for some blue. But close enough.
The Vans Era wears its signature checkerboard with a “Dracula hand” graphic popularized by Undercover’s Fall/Winter 2015 bomber jackets, an immediate grail in the early days of street-meets-menswear. Lined in leather, these are the skate shoes you remember — but better.
And then UNDERCOVER throws it back to the early ’90s with its Vans Sk8-Mid sneakers, wrapping them with a “Anarchy Is The Key” print that’s been a house staple since founder Jun Takahashi founded A.F.F.A. (“Anarchy Forever Forever Anarchy) with fragment design overseer Hiroshi Fujiwara in the Ura-Hara days.
And, yes, fancier fabrication as is typical of the Vans OTW line.
Observe for yourself when the shoes release on UNDERCOVER’s web store July 13 and Vans OTW’s website from July 16 for $95 and $100 apiece.
Vans may be (deservingly) best known for its cutting-edge thrashers, wearably remixed classics, oddball lifestyle sneakers and massively chunky skate shoes but it does a little fashion. OTW launched with a Sterling Ruby team-up, remember, and will deliver more luxury links in the future.
There’s also Vans Premium, which is basically just the Vans sneakers you remember but, again, even better. No collaborator needed.
Not that there isn’t room for a little artistic beautification from time to time.