Vans Taps Into Its Archive With Premium Old Skool Music Collection

Vans recently took over LA to celebrate the legacy of the Old Skool, blending skateboarding, music, and culture in one immersive event. The brand opened its archives, offering a glimpse into the history that shaped the shoe’s roots as a bonafide skate staple and cultural icon.
 
The event bridged generations, featuring legends like Henry Rollins of Black Flag and skate pioneer Tony Alva alongside rising talents like hip-hop group Paris Texas and bespoke customizer Nicole McLaughlin. This collision of past and present sets the stage for Vans’ new capsule collections – reimagining the Premium Old Skool with archival details, modern skate upgrades, and colorways inspired by the prevailing aesthetics of three pivotal eras.
 
Let’s dial it back to 1977. Los Angeles is experiencing an unprecedented drought, but the city’s well of creative gold is anything but dry. Punk bands are taking over house parties, and a collective out of Santa Monica’s Dogtown is making waves in more ways than one.
 
Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Jay Adams, and other Z-Boys have translated their unique surfing styles to skateboarding. The city’s lack of water means that empty swimming pools are everywhere, allowing the team’s pioneering vertical skateboarding style to flourish and redefine the sport. They’re wearing Vans, and while they all have a vision, they probably haven’t yet grasped the impact they’re going to have on the sneaker industry.
 

Tony Alva became the first Vans sponsored skater in 1974, and two years later, he played a pivotal role in developing the first ever sneaker designed specifically for skateboarding; the Vans Style 95 (Vans Era). The first “Off The Wall” shoe was given a slogan that described its purpose – skating vertically – but it’s since evolved into a rallying cry for all those who champion rebellion and independence.
 
“Skateboarders, especially professionals, we were considered the little bastard stepchild of the whole shoe industry,” says Alva. “But that’s where the Van Dorens had foresight, you know what I mean. Steve was like, god, these kids are cool and we need to make shoes for them.”
 
Following the success of the Style 95, Vans introduced another game-changer in 1977: the Style 36. Later anointed the Old Skool, the shoe debuted the now-iconic sidestripe; a simple doodle by founder Paul Van Doren that evolved into a symbol of skate culture and beyond.

“In a way it went away from the surfer look and the Spicoli-ish kind of feeling, to where it got a little bit more edgy, kind of a bit more street,” says Alva.
 
The Old Skool would quickly become a symbol of counterculture for reasons that weren’t forced, but naturally came to be. Skating rock stars and music-obsessed skaters were there from the very beginning, thus birthing a style that continues to thrive at the intersection of both worlds.

Alva, who’s been a part of several bands over the years and currently plays bass guitar for His Eyes Have Fangs, embodies that crossover to a tee. “Where it really started for me was music,” he says. “That’s the stuff that I just kind of based my rhythm and life off of. I love guys like Jimmy Hendrix and Mick Jagger. Or the hardcore, super flamboyant rocker kind of guys. But they were good with their instruments. Style is really important, but it’s not something you wanna think about too much. It’s like flying. If you’re a bird, you’re not thinking about what you look like when you’re flying, you’re just doing it. I think of that when it comes to music and surfing, and it can’t help but leak into my skateboarding.”
 
Now nearly fifty years and countless tweaks later, not to mention new models like the Knu Skool, Vans is breathing new life into the 1977-born icon yet again with a series of Premium Old Skool capsules inspired by its indelible mark on skate and music.
 
First things first: the Premium Old Skool comes with a ton of skate-minded upgrades. The updated model is anchored by recycled materials and 30% biobased Sola Foam ADC insoles for all-day cushioning and improved comfort. As far as archival touches go, the shoe features glossy sidewalls, higher foxing tape, and throwback branding on the heel.
 
The inaugural capsule tributes the era the Old Skool grew up in with original red and royal blue colorways and a bold leopard print design reminiscent of the 70s punk aesthetics. The Vans archive contains an awfully similar pair of custom 45s from the early 70s, which were commissioned during a time when Vans would let people design their own shoes with unique fabrics.

“It’s like a happy, beautiful coincidence,” says Vans archivist and brand historian Catherine Acosta. “That pair is truly a one of a kind custom pair by a woman who was on the East Coast, who was mail ordering from Vans in the early 1970s. When I showed Steve (Van Doren) that pair a couple of years ago, he was super impressed because while they had black rubber in the early seventies, it was only used on basketball shoes or other models more akin to sport culture. So he was like ‘wow this is really unusual that this person would pick that,’ you know.”

The next capsule hones in on the Y2K era with styles you might have found at Vans Warped Tour, which the company famously sponsored from 1996 until recently. There’s a black and red design featuring tribal graphics, as well as a timeless black and white checkerboard colorway tied to DIY customs and Vans’ heritage in motocross.

“The checkerboard print most likely emerged out of BMX culture, which makes a lot of sense, because if you see how BMX is sort of coming up as an action sport alongside skateboarding, they’re really looking and emulating motocross,” says Acosta. “The use of checkerboard is just so prominent. And the first time you see Vans officially use checkerboard in any capacity, which is on the rubber sidewall, it’s in BMX, and it becomes part of our BMX uniforms. In the eighties, all our ads had it.”
 
The third and final capsule pays homage to 2010s hip-hop, showcasing pastel colorways on gum soles that capture the era’s dominant streetwear vibe along Fairfax Ave.

Partnerships with influential names like Tyler, The Creator and Supreme boosted the prominence of the Old Skool, making it a staple both on the red carpet and at underground shows. The collection features vibrant options in blue, pink, and orange, alongside a more subtle brown variant that nods to the era while staying fresh and contemporary.
 
Each capsule will roll out in-store and online via vans.com over the coming months. The punk capsule releases on February 6th, the Warped Tour capsule drops March 6th, and the hip-hop capsule arrives on April 10th.