Vans is phasing out its Vault project and diving into its next undertaking: OTW by Vans, a new premium label that’s slated to launch in early 2024, is debuting at Paris Men’s Fashion Week Spring 2024 in the form of a live skate exhibition.
OTW by Vans will include men’s, women’s and unisex apparel and footwear, and will be broken into two different product lines: OTW, which will focus on collaborations and exploratory design, and Premium Standard, which will include Vans’ elevated classic silhouettes. An inaugural collaboration in 2024 will be with S.R. STUDIO LA. CA. by Sterling Ruby.
According to the shoe brand, OTW by Vans will have a distinct online presence and will be available to wholesale partners. “We are rooting the next chapter of Vans in the attitude and mindset of the brand’s true self, defined and shaped by the community of original disruptors. Skateboarding embraced us many years ago from the fringe to drive culture forward,” said Vans Vice President and Pinnacle Creative Director Ian Ginoza via a press release.
The Vault by Vans program, which offered premium versions of its classic shoes, is ending by Dec. 2023. OTW by Vans will also offer elevated products, but with a different goalpost, according to Ginoza. He calls it a “reorientation” to the brand’s “original spirit of defiance and exploration as the pioneers and trailblazers of skateboarding.”
“With Vault, the original mission was really a celebration of classic art, classic heritage and craft and this is more about a shift in thinking rooted in the mindset and attitude of skateboarding, exploration, taking risks and in innate curiosity,” Ginoza told WWD. “We want to really push the boundaries of product expression and brand experiences.”
“Vans like a lot of brands has gone through peaks and valleys but the one thing that Vans has that our competitors don’t is we were born from skateboarding,” Ginoza said. “In many ways, OTW is a reorientation back to who we truly are, Off the Wall, and I think that will be our uniqueness and point of difference amongst the competitive landscape.”
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