BEAMS x Vans Reinvigorate Two Icons With The Era95 GORE-TEX and Skool Era
Two archetypes get reworked through technical upgrades and a hybrid silhouette mashup.
Name: BEAMS x Vans Era95 GORE-TEX, BEAMS x Vans Skool Era
Colorway: Black/True White
SKU: TBC
MSRP: ¥15,400 JPY (approx. $95 USD), ¥21,450 JPY (approx. $130 USD)
Release Date: July 3
Where to Buy: BEAMS
Vans and BEAMS are reworking two of the skate brand’s essential archetypes with the Era95 GORE-TEX and Skool Era, a two-model collaboration that reinterprets classic silhouettes through both technical and design-driven approaches. The release treats Vans’ catalog as a starting point for experimentation rather than a straight reissue, layering new materials onto one model and blending two distinct design languages into the other.
The Era95 GORE-TEX takes the Era, one of Vans’ defining models, and rebuilds it around GORE-TEX fabric and a Vibram sole. The familiar silhouette stays intact, but the update adds waterproofing, breathability, and improved grip, positioning the shoe as a weather-ready take on a design that wasn’t originally built for the elements. The Era itself dates back to 1976, when it was developed with input from professional skateboarders Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta and introduced a padded collar for added ankle support, a detail that makes the GORE-TEX treatment read less like a gimmick and more like a continuation of the shoe’s original function-first premise.
The Skool Era takes a different route, merging two of Vans’ most identifiable models into a single hybrid. The exterior carries the Old Skool’s signature side stripe, while the interior adopts the Era’s more minimal construction, letting two distinct design eras coexist on one shoe. The Old Skool debuted in 1977 and was the first Vans model to feature that side stripe, which has since become one of the brand’s most recognized visual signatures. Placing it against the Era’s stripped-down profile turns the Skool Era into a study of contrast, pairing a graphic identifier with a quieter silhouette rather than picking one over the other.
Together, the two models frame the collaboration as an exercise in heritage management: keeping Vans’ established design language intact while finding new ways to update its function and presentation for a contemporary audience.
