Coming Soon: BAPE and Vans’ First-Ever Sneaker Collaboration

Southern California and Tokyo couldn’t be further apart, but these individual locations have regularly coalesced in the form of sneaker collaborations between Vans and various Japanese brands. Having already worked with the calibre of WTAPS and NEIGHBORHOOD, Vans have perhaps finally reached the final bastion of Tokyo colabs via their upcoming effort with BAPE.

Both Vans and BAPE are important in the industry: the former revolutionised canvas skate shoes, while the latter is one of the OG titans of streetwear. As such, each collaborative party is offering their most iconic products to make something greater than the sum of its parts. The Sk8-Hi and Authentic – two of Vans all-time best sellers – are merged with BAPE’s distinct ‘ABC’ camo across canvas uppers. Two colourways are on offer, with black and white livery to the spec of OG Vans releases, and a milspec olive mix. In (kick)flipping the script, the signature waffle rubber outsoles are rendered red, as opposed to the usual gum brown colour.

The BAPE x Vans collection will release in China on November 1, followed by a global release on November 13 at select BAPE and Vans retailers in the Asia Pacific region. After that, BAPE stores in global regions will sell the colab from November 29, and finally Vans global will get a drop on November 30.