Vans' New "Grosso Forever" Collection Honors the Life and Legacy of Jeff Grosso
With two special Sk8-His and a set of apparel, royalties from which will go to Grosso’s family.
Vans is paying homage to the life and legacy of the late, great, Jeff Grosso with a new “Grosso Forever” collection. An influential skateboarder and longtime Vans family member, Grosso passed away in March 2020. Since then, Vans has honored him with a virtual memorial and now his very own posthumous collection — consisting of two special takes on the Sk8-Hi, meaningful apparel and even an episode of Vans’ Love Letters web series.
The first Sk8-Hi in the collection is a red and white checkerboard style, with black detailing and a wavy print on the midsole. Grosso wore a similar pair in Powell-Peralta‘s classic 1985 skate film Future Primitive, and an image of him in the shoes was used on the cover of Thrasher in June 2020. The second pair features an asymmetrical black, white and cream palm print with a clean lateral side and a smoky medial side. This pair is another nod to Grosso’s career: he wore it in several Santa Cruz and Hosoi Rockets ads in 1988. Both pairs are also upgraded with DURACAP rubber and PopCush insoles to meet the demands of modern-day skating.
Apparel consists of tees both short and long sleeve, plus a trucker hat. The short sleeve tees feature one of Grosso’s favorite photos of himself, namely Bryce Knight’s “Sadder than a Funeral” shot from Thrasher‘s November 1985 issue. Other tees feature designs from artist John Lucero, one of Grosso’s good frends, plus a quote from Grosso himself: “It’s you, your skateboard, and the world. So go out and make it your own.”
The Vans Grosso Forever collection is available now via the Vans webstore, with each Sk8-Hi priced at $85 USD.
For more from Vans, check out the Style 57 — a revitalized skate classic from the early ’90s.
