10 Vans collabs from some of your favorite bands
The presence Vans has brought to punk, rock and metal over the years is undeniable, not only through 25 years of Warped Tour but also its constant support of the scene in sponsorships, promotions and collaborations. The company has made some incredible styles over the years, but creating custom shoes with bands is one of the coolest things Vans has come out with.
Take a look below at some of the best collabs Vans has done with bands for its iconic shoes.
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1. Iron Maiden
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Iron Maiden have some of the best-looking album covers from a classic heavy-metal band, and Vans has really gone in on its collabs with them over the years. You can find a ton of their iconic album covers including Piece Of Mind, Powerslave, Killers and more on pairs of Vans, so it’s really just a matter of deciding which album is your favorite before picking up a pair.
2. Slayer
Thrash metal is all about speed, so what better footwear to sport when shredding some streets on a skateboard than a Slayer-branded shoe? Vans went with a great choice in designing its Slayer collab by emblazoning the band’s iconic eagle logo onto both high tops and low tops in vibrant blood red colors.
3. Suicidal Tendencies
It’s an obvious pairing for Suicidal Tendencies and Vans to work together given the band’s history in skateboarding. From writing “Possessed To Skate” and their connection to the Dogtown skateboarding team, their influence on the sport is massive, and these shoes show the band’s classic DIY poster aesthetic perfectly.
4. Descendents
Few images on punk albums are quite as iconic as the caricature of Milo Aukerman on Milo Goes To College, and Vans took that and ran with it. The shoes are perfect for any early pop-punk fan who knows their history and wants to display that with a sick pair of Descendents kicks.
5. Bad Religion
Bad Religion are one of the longest-running and hardest-working punk-rock bands, so Vans giving their praise to the band is well deserved. Their collab footwear is soaked in their imagery and of course has their classic cross logo emblazoned on the back of each shoe.
6. Motörhead
Skateboarding has always been about rebellion, and no band capture that attitude quite as well as Motörhead. The legendary metal band were as gritty and grimy as you could get, so partnering up with Vans to make a skate shoe built for English pro skater Geoff Rowley was a no-brainer.
7. Bad Brains
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Bad Brains’ influence on punk and hardcore marked a huge shift in the genre, and their Rastafari roots on top of an iconic album cover in their self-titled debut allowed for some cool options for Vans to work with. The shoes are aggressively bright and colorful but are just as blunt in their aesthetic as the band are onstage.
8. The Devil Wears Prada
Vans has typically worked with classic bands in the metal and rock scenes, but their one-off collab with metalcore band the Devil Wears Prada was a subtle nod to their later years of Warped Tour. The shoe isn’t overly flashy like many of its past designs, but having the band’s logo on the tongue of the shoe should make any scene kid happy about their footwear.
9. Kiss
It’s surprising Kiss haven’t tried to create an entire shoe line on their own given Gene Simmons’ tendency to make a product for everything, but their Vans collab turned out better than the band probably could have come up with on their own. The shoes have a cool retro-rock look with some of their album covers gracing the footwear.
10. Tyler, The Creator/Odd Future
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Tyler, The Creator’s status in rap is matched only by his influence in fashion through the vibrant-colored clothes he makes with Golf Wang. Before his career blew up, Vans collabed with Tyler and his Odd Future collective to create a sweet brightly colored shoe fitted with their classic doughnut logo.
