Old Skool’s New Future: Skate and Surf’s Next Gen Take Over the Classic Vans Silhouette

Vans highlights athletes from the global skate and surf team to reimagine the Vans Old Skool, a signature skate that first debuted in 1977. The result: a quartet of Premium Old Skools that reflect each rider's sense of style.

Two-time Olympic silver medalist Cocona Hiraki chose to honour her Japanese heritage in her design. The 16-year-old skateboarding prodigy included culturally inspired charms—like a fish that resembles the popular taiyaki pastry—on the removable friendship bracelet that adorns her shoe’s swivelling Sidestripe. Hiraki’s DIY-style Old Skool reflects her passion for drawing and making friendship bracelets to share with fellow skaters when she’s on the road. 

Karina Rozunko is another artist-athlete using her creativity to stand out, on and off the board. A California-based traditional longboarder, Rozunko brings her vintage-meets-modern aesthetic to the iconic Old Skool, allowing the footwear to feel fresh without straying too far from the Vans silhouette the world knows and loves. The surfer’s rendition makes waves with an asymmetrical wrap upper embellished with eye-catching metal hardware.

Tania Cruz of Barcelona takes the Premium Old Skool in a different direction, a leather-clad one, to be precise. Her shoe features rub-away black leather that gives way to a bold red shade with repeated wearings over time. The choice of material wasn’t merely aesthetic. Cruz, her crew, and anyone else who rocks this particular Old Skool get a look unique to them, representing every mile and memory they’ve made in their Vans.

“The Old Skool can be compared to a person who has scars from the past,” Cruz explained in a statement. “We have to wear them with pride because they make us unique, strong, and different.”

Rounding out the fierce foursome: New York skateboarder and model Efron Danzig. From walking the runway at the city’s Fashion Week to tearing up the streets as part of boundary-pushing skate collective Violet, the multi-disciplinary creative makes doing it all look effortless. Adding ‘innovative shoe designer’ to her curriculum vitae, Danzig pulls from punk culture for her Premium Old Skool revamp. The Vans staple gets a feminine yet edgy flair with the maxed-out combo of corset-inspired lacing and twin silver buckles across the upper.

The Downtown darling cited “old New York rockers, trashy girls, Marie Antoinette, military, punks, and my friends who make clothes” as her coterie of influences on the heeled, full-grain leather look.

The math is simple: one shoe and four visions add up to infinite possibilities for self-expression. It’s only fitting that the athletes defining the futures of their respective sports should forecast the next steps for Vans with the New Future collection. By elevating the Old Skool through each of their perspectives, Hiraki, Rozunko, Cruz, and Danzig remind us that there’s no ‘right way’ to be great. It’s what being ‘Off the Wall’ is all about: forgoing the well-travelled path to tread a new one altogether.

The Old Skool New Future collection will be available starting with Cocona’s collection on vans.co.za starting August 14, andwill  be made available at select Vans stores across the country.