Old Skool, New Rules: Vans Reimagines an Icon for the Next Generation

Vans hasn’t lost its grip on the underground. When Style 36, aka the ever-popular Old Skool silhouette, first debuted in 1977, it became a part of a ubiquitous uniform for skateboarders and punks. When the brand sponsored Warped Tour in 1996 and thereafter, it tapped into the zeitgeist of punk rock, grunge and pop-rock, forming a kinship with musical subcultures that, in part, fed the rise of hip-hop’s new wave movement. And now, with the launch of the Premium Old Skool Music Collection, Vans pays homage to its rebellious roots while boldly stepping into the future with a new generation of misfits, skaters and stage divers alike.

Vans took over West Hollywood’s Kohn Gallery with a two-day media summit to celebrate the release. The gallery experience, led by Vans archivist Catherine Acosta, fused art, music and DIY culture to culminate in an immersive walk down memory lane with prominent culture shifters who championed the original Old Skool, coast to coast. To set the tone of the night, Acosta moderated a panel, including industry legend Henry Rollins (Black Flag and Rollins Band), and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, guitarist Bela Salazar (The Linda Lindas) and practicing artist and rapper Jahlil Nzinga of The Pack, known for the Bay Area anthem “Vans” and its earworm of a hook: “Got my Vans on but they look like sneakers.”

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“No matter where you went in America, at a certain point in the eighties, if you saw someone in Vans, you knew they gotta be pretty cool,” Rollins mentioned, drawing a connection to contemporaries like Stacy Peralta and Jay Adams, who shared kindred sensibilities in fashion and music at the ramp. “The soundtrack was FM radio from those days, Foghat, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Then when punk rock came in, suddenly everyone’s punk and in a band, and we’re still skateboarding, we’re still wearing vans and going to see The Clash. So music was a throughline, Vans was a throughline, and punk rock was the thing that happened in the middle of that arc.”

Salazar unpacked how the Riot Grrrl movement and bands like Bikini Kill were integral to platforming feminist discourse in a sea of men raging against the machine. Nzinga shared a similar sentiment that Vans drew a bridge to communities and creative tribes for alternative types — the kids who were not necessarily sneakerheads, athletes, ballers, or simply wealthy — and for Barker, Vans was the most immediate store based in Fontana, California, that sold shoes comfortable enough to pivot from skateboarding to BMX to a night of drumming. From guitar riffs to griptape, this sense of chosen family propels the stories embedded in the iconic Old Skool line.

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Following the panel, Detroit native SKY JETTA took to the stage. Amid her DJ set, Vans athletes stormed the built-in halfpipe to defy the laws of gravity, sticking landings in the middle of the crowd in precarious form. Various installations throughout the gallery, each a love letter to the communities who gravitated to the shoe’s relationship with the counterculture, surrounded the main stage allowing for moments of conversation and retro-inspired photo ops.

A dedicated sneaker wall showcased revamped iterations of cheetah-printed and solid colorways donned by punk rock and hardcore musicians from the 1970s and 1980s (the first drop of the Premium collection debuting February 6), two-tone makeups, Y2K flame prints and classic Checkerboard styles accompanying the inception of Warped Tour in the mid-‘90s (releasing March 6), and popsicle-colored iterations with gum soles, repped by alternative hip-hop groups like Odd Future in the 2000s (April 10).

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The Premium Old Skool Music footwear range brings a fresh perspective to the iconic Style 36 while keeping its rebellious spirit alive. The silhouette’s remixed with 30% bio-based Sola Foam ADC insoles, emphasizing improved comfort along with higher foxing tape to ensure optimal stability. Glass displays and photo collages provided a deeper look into the brand’s footprint in fashion, spotlighting notable artist-led collaborations with the Descendents, A Tribe Called Quest, Denzel Curry, Golf Wang, Vivienne Westwood, and other luminaries in the music and fashion spheres.

Curated ephemera from the 1970s to the new millennium —  posters of Agent Orange, Circle Jerks, Eminem, No Doubt, N.E.R.D., The Game, and Odd Future — decorated the walls of an immersive installation modeled as a teenager’s bedroom, CDs, vinyl and a retro 1990s-era computer transporting guests back to bygone cultural remnants that defined their favorite decades. For Vans, this type of cross-generational nostalgia is the heartbeat stitched into Style 36, but it’s a framework fashion enthusiasts continue to build upon through authentic self-expression.

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On the second day of the summit, Nicole McLaughlin hosted a customization workshop. Known for her whimsical approach to upcycling, the designer invited attendees to reimagine the shoe with intricate lacing systems using metal trinkets, ribbon and bedazzled sidewalls, embracing the DIY ethos that has long remained at the core of punk rock and skate culture. Paralleling the realms of street art, artist Chito used the silhouette as a blank slate, transforming the uppers into wearable canvases featuring his signature airbrushed artworks. Metallic glitter and inky black watermarks brought a grungy texture to the shoe’s reinforced construction.

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The summit closed with an electric lineup of live musical performances by Horsegirl, followed by a DJ set by Henry Rollins, which traversed the static angst of ‘80s-era punk rock. During Paris Texas’ closing performance, rapper-producers Louie Pastel and Felix thrashed to their genre-defying beats and slick bars as the crowd formed a mosh pit in solidarity.

What are mosh pits for, if not to blow off existential steam, to rally with misfits brave enough to go against the grain, even occasionally off the wall in sweaty commiseration? Choose from any era, and Vans has established a loyal fanbase rooted in this ethos that the young can forgo fear but not authenticity. Not much has changed — the kids are still angry, and the shoes still land a trick or two. One would wager that classics simply never die.