Here we have the first look at 18 East‘s first collaboration project with Vans Vault. Company founder, Antonio Ciongoli, sat down with Village Psychic to talk a little bit about everything. His introduction to skateboarding. His fashion background. His approach to design, manufacturing, and retail. This dude has a mission, and it’s against the norm, and he’s a game changer. Read the entire interview over on Village Psychic’s site.
For their first collab of hopefully many more, they chose the OG Half Cab ’92 LX from the Vault Originals line as their silhouette of choice. A fan favorite of our community. It wasn’t just by chance either. 18 East’s owner, Antonio Ciongoli set out to recreate his perfect version of the Half Cab, based off of the original USA made version that had a very distinct shape, that was a little bit narrower, and had an extra toe cap panel, which is the first dead giveaway of a Half Cab ’92. Vans snobs like us, always appreciate when someone goes to great lengths to choose specific things like this. He also wanted to incorporate some features of the Core Classic Half Cab, or what we commonly refer to as the “GR” (general release) model. Built similarly to any Core Classics models, with the simple and thin footbeds. Perfect for skating, due to the great board feel achieved, however the cushioning only lasts for a short while. While working on the design with our homie Rian Pozzebon at Vans, they decided that the UltraCush footbed that is found on all Vault Originals, was the move, as it provides slightly better comfort, and durability, without the bulkiness of the Vans Skate removable insoles.
The materials and patterns on this pack, all tell a story. Here’s what Antonio had to say:
“Function came first with most of what we changed being “under the hood.” So much work went into getting the silhouette right that our main focus became making three highly wearable colorways that any skater, whether they know us or not, would be psyched to skate. That said, there are a few subtle touches that quietly tie them back to us. The usual woven “Half Cab” patch on the side was swapped for one made from indigo suede, as natural indigo is a key element of our collection and integral to traditional Indian manufacturing. The suede panel behind that label is debossed with an intricate textile pattern that comes from the handwoven garment we are most known for – our Gorecki cargo pant. Jimmy Gorecki is actually the person that linked us with Vans in the first place so we thought that was a nice, low-key tribute. The less abrasion-prone panels below that are cotton ripstop, because that’s the fabric I’ve probably skated in most throughout my life. We flipped the OG Van Doren typeface to say EAST and added that on a small loop label just below the main tongue label and ran a dedication to the people that initially sparked me on skating on the back side of the tongue”.
The pack of 3 will be offered up in a Black/Navy, Off White, and Brown colorway, each featuring a black puffy tongue with natural white contrast stitching, and a matte white vulcanized sole with tonal foxing stripe. Of course, the most notable features are the wide variety of materials used. There’s cotton ripstop. There’s indigo suede. There’s debossed details, paying tribute to the intricate textile patterns on their Gorecki cargo pant, which I believe is sourced from JSP, Jimmy Gorecki’s label, who was also the one who introduced 18 East to the people at Vans. You can’t go wrong with any of these timeless colorways.
I’m proud to say that we may be the community who holds most of the knowledge when it comes to Vans, but we’re still finding out things just like the rest of you. Case in point, when reading this interview, we learned a little bit about how hard it is to take style cues from say, a Skate Half Cab, or GR, and incorporate it into a Vault shoe, or vice versa. Different departments at Vans, own the property to that specific shape and style, and well, for whatever reason, they don’t like to cross-breed lol. Just thought that was interesting.
We don’t have any official release info for this release, but when it becomes available, we’ll let you know, most likely through our social media outlets.
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