The One Out of Step – A Farewell Salute to Vans Syndicate by The Hundreds’ Maarten Warning (@warheadnl)

Nov 17 15 under Articles, Collaborations, Heritage, History, Syndicate | Comments Off

I just stumbled across this article this morning, and I must say, I had no idea there were others out there who knew as much info as my fellow Under The Palms / Strictly Vans homies, about Vans Syndicate. I really thought we had found them all, and had hazed them into our fraternity. I’m talking about some detailed shit, like back-story type shit. Stuff you only hear about from original Vans Syndicate dealers, reps, and employees, as well from just personal experience early on before the Vans hype started to grow into what it is today. Founder of Noise Magazine, Lacebag, and now an author for The Hundreds, Amsterdam-native Maarten Warning, has created the best tribute to Vans Syndicate that I’ve read so far. Now that I think of it, it makes complete sense, as there is a pretty big “S” following in The Netherlands! Shout out to Erwin! Anyways, Maarten’s article goes in depth about the start of Vans Syndicate, the early collaborations, and even put together an awesome, and nearly similar to what I’d have chosen list of his 10 favorite Syndicate releases. Please take the time out to read his article over at The Hundreds, and follow him @warheadnl on Instagram and Twitter.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO HIS ARTICLE

UTP Exclusive Interview: SBTG x NON Beijing – “Straight To Hell” Custom Vans

Oct 9 14 under Articles, Collaborations, Customs, Interviews, UTP | Comments Off

Video and photo credit: Betaphats Studios

http://betaphats.com

Some info about NOW OR NEVER

http://instagram.com/non_beijing

In the world of sneakers, customization has always been present. People have this need to put their personal touch on them. Sometimes it’s as simple as swapping out laces. Sometimes it’s as complex as taking apart an entire shoe, and reconstructing it with an entirely different material. There are many who are making a name for themselves in this growing custom sneaker culture, but only a handful have been able to successfully get their artistic creations reproduced by a major brand, and when you look back at all of the shoes of this genre, you have to show respect where respect’s due, and that’s with our friend here, Mark Ong, aka Sabotage. His claim to fame, is of course the Royalefam Nike SB Dunk Low aka “Sabotage Dunk”, one of my all-time favorites, but he’s also helped create some other successful releases for the likes of New Balance, DC, a custom pair of Nike’s for Kobe Bryant, and the list goes on and on. He’s always been into the punk scene, and grew up skateboarding in Singapore, so naturally, you’d think he would’ve already done some work with Vans, right? Well, no he hasn’t, and we hope that we can help get something setup for him real soon, or at least with us, on some custom project of some sort! Which leads me to our exclusive interview we have obtained with him. Being able to get closer to his roots in skate and punk rock, Mark has decided to switch his focus to Vans sneakers. He’s always worn them, but he’s sort of been loyal to the athletic sports brands that he’s been lucky to collaborate with over the years. Mark thought it was important to first reach out to the true base of Vans fans. Those who give a fuck about what he’s doing, and those who get it. Well, he’s come to the right place, and we’ve officially converted him to the dark side!

Enjoy the conversation we had a few days back, and check out the awesome video that him and NON Beijing created for this collaborative project above.

(interview starts after the jump)

Vans Vault: Ten Years of Lockdown (Article by Sneaker Freaker)

Apr 25 14 under Articles, Vault | Comments Off

Here’s an interesting brief article about the heritage of our beloved Vans Vault, written by the original (and still the best) sneaker resource, Sneaker Freaker. It’s a retrospect into what Vans was, and what they are now, and how Vault by Vans played a big part in their revival into the fashion world, and well, pop culture in general. Enlisting many artists to collaborate with, as well as betting big on their in-house “ace up their sleeve” Taka Hayashi, who continually sets the bar for the luxury side of Vans. If you get a chance, head on over to SneakerFreaker’s website, and see what they have to say about our #1 brand, and hopefully one day we can be mentioned in the short list of sneaker communities that promote growth and change in trends! One day!

info and pics via Sneaker Freaker

Complex.com: The Top 10 Vans Vault Releases Of All Time

Aug 5 13 under Articles, Heritage, History, Vault | Comments Off

Everyone’s favorite top-10 site has just created a new list depicting their opinion of the Top 10 Vans Vault releases of all time. Everyone should have their own top 10, but this one is a pretty good “rule of thumb” to go by, in terms of milestones for Vans Vault. As a collector of Vans, it’s easy to judge a shoe by it’s resell value, name attached, or limited availability, but like I mentioned, it’s just an opinion! Enjoy the article, and comment on your favorite top 10 Vans Vault releases!

READ THE ARTICLE HERE

info via Complex

Complex Mag: Jon Warren’s 25 Favorite Vans Sneakers of All Time

Sep 30 12 under Articles, Heritage, History, Interviews | Comments Off

Complex Mag is known for their top-whatever lists, and they’ve just published one that hits close to home for us Vans fanatics. They were able to get together with Jon Warren and have him knock out his top 25 Vans sneakers of all time. As I started reading through his picks, I soon realized that I had almost every pair he was naming off, and he was even being specific with colorways of certain models! But yeah, I’m sure if he wasn’t the head of footwear design over at Vans, he would be a fellow OTWS member, since his favorites are among most of ours as well. You’ll find a few Syndicates, Supremes, Vaults, Band series, and even a few GR classics sprinkled throughout this limited list. Head on over to Complex to read the article, and hear why he chose each and every shoe. It’s a great read!

See the article here!!!

Vans officially welcomes Jason Dill

Sep 5 12 under Articles, History, Pro | Comments Off

A few words from Vans:

“You’ve seen him in the van and out on missions with us for a bit now, but Steve Van Doren and the entire Vans team would like to take this opportunity to officially welcome back the incomparable Jason Dill to the Vans Pro Skate family [we were his first shoe sponsor back when he was like, eleven]. To herald this magnificent news, we’re christening our formal alliance with a full week of in-depth and exclusive Dill content on-line. Yesterday, we posted every single one of Jason Dill’s skate interviews over the past two decades, and today we present Jason’s Alien Workshop ad archive, with nearly two dozen of Dill’s Alien ads spanning 14 years. Be sure to check out Jason’s Vans team page and check back often for something else new every day this week. Who knows, you might even learn something about Jason you never knew. “

Vans OTW Presents: “In Honor of Living the Good Life” (Lookbook)

Jul 19 12 under Articles, OTW | Comments Off

The Vans OTW Collection proudly presents “In Honor of Living the Good Life”, a limited run photo book dedicated to Vans 2012 Advocates, Lupe Fiasco, Eric Elms, Dimitri Coste, Chris Kong and independent creative thinkers around the world. With over 50 pages of content, In Honor of Living the Good Life gives readers a look into the lives of Vans Advocates with candid photography by 13th Witness, Scott Pommier and Max Wanger. Readers can also check out an introduction to the Fall 2012 season of product featuring the Alcon, Alomar, Ludlow Decon, Stovepipe and the new OTW Apparel line. Pick up your free copy this month at select Vans retail locations and key OTW accounts.

info via Modern Notoriety

check out a few of the pages after the jump Read More

Vans Syndicate – “These Days” Zine Issue 1 (Fall/Winter 2012)

Jun 21 12 under Articles, Syndicate | Comments Off

Words via FreshNGood:

“As you well know, most magazines are busy plotting their next moves in the digital realm. It is in these times that, in a move of highly questionable judgment, the VANS Syndicate ‘zine has chosen to align our efforts in the opposite direction and focus on analog publishing with the inaugural release of THESE DAYS, VANS Syndicate’s biannual newsprint periodical. Like VANS Syndicate itself, THESE DAYS is an exploration into the lifestyles and personalities that inspire us and contribute to make our shared culture so rad. We hope these stories will inspire you too.”

This awesome newsprint will be available shortly, a select Vans Syndicate dealers. Let’s hope they put them out on the counters, instead of leaving them in the back as bathroom reading material!

Vans President Kevin Bailey On New LXVI Line, and Growth Strategy

Jun 20 12 under Articles, Interviews, LXVI | Comments Off

I’ve just read this interesting article over on Transworld Business, discussing Vans’ upcoming growth strategy to enter into the “Every-Day Action Sports Enthusiast” market with the LXVI line, dominated currently by Nike SB and Adidas Skateboarding. This particular consumer currently buys shoes that we’re all familiar with, such as the P. Rod Pro Model, Eric Koston Pro Model, Omar Salazar Pro Model, Busenitz, and so on. It’s an interesting move to say the least. It’s definitely not in our expertise to say what sells, because we’re all hype driven, or at least sub-brand driven with our Syndicates, Vaults, and collabs, so perhaps I should just leave it at that. What are your opinions on the LXVI (sixty-six) line? Check out the article over on Transworld Business, and learn more about why Vans decided to branch off into this category, during a time when I feel they are on top, and just getting better.

I also invite you to join in a great conversation we’re currently having on this topic, on our forums here. Sign up!

Style Profile: “Vintage” Vans Style #37 (by theothersideofthepillow @pillowHeat)

Jun 7 12 under Articles, Heritage, History, Vintage | Comments Off

This is sort of one of those “keep you up to date” posts. OTWS has been doing it’s thing for a few years now, but as you can imagine, being that we’re a pretty centralized site, focusing on just Vans, the early newcomers and members were those in the know, and those who might call themselves fanatics. Case in point, OTWS friend Wayne, who owns and operates a shop across the pond in the UK called “The Other Side of the Pillow”. Wayne searches out all things vintage. With a knack for digging up vintage gold, he comes across rare eyeglasses, clothing, and you guessed it, Vans. His collection of rare, and non-existent “Made in the USA” Vans and Van Doren Rubber Co. sneakers are astonishing. And he keeps finding more!!! Vans are so simple to make, and the styles are as such, that they can pump out endless designs, limited runs, collaborations, and rare exclusives, as if they were printing t-shirts. This is what makes collecting Vans so fun, and in his case, vintage Vans. There are so many out there, that there’s almost no way of documenting every single pair. There’s always going to be pairs that we don’t know about, or have never seen.

I wanted you newer followers and members of OTWS to meet this fellow, and check out what he’s got going on, because there’s nobody else doing what he does. He’s the link to the past that we don’t have with Vans, and hopefully some of you enjoy and appreciate what he does. Some people only wear the “Made in the USA” Vans, and hopefully he can help you source whatever it is you’re looking for. Had a pair as a kid that you can’t find? Check him out, and see if he can help!

Wayne recently wrote up an article, regarding the Style #37, which was originally designated for the shoe we know as the Mid-Skool ’77. Turns out, that style# had a little bit of an identity crisis throughout the years, and somehow it got mixed up with a Native American, and the Sk8-Mid. It’s a pretty neat story, so go and check it out over on his site, and while you’re there, click around, and see some of his older posts, and check out what he’s currently got for sale. You might find something you like! Keep up the great work Wayne, and I hope you get a few new followers from this post!

Check out the story on the Vans Style #37 -> HERE.