vintage VANS black & white logo checkerboard SLIP-ON style #98 fast times at ridgemont high JEFF SPICOLI off the wall MADE IN USA 80's US5

2 words

 one has to hand it to sean penn for his genius piece of product placement of the style #98 in his 1982 film fast times at ridgemont high. what a way for millions of people to be introduced to the brand as iconic stoner jeff spicoli lungs a bowl of chronic & proceeds to bash his skull with said checkerboards!

 vans are heavily indebted to penn for his off the wall shoe of choice having such an influence on the growth & perception of the brand

 n his checkerboards spicoli leaves no turn unstoned, accompanied by 'stoner bud' (stoltz) in his dogtown style #95 no less!

 ....& after they graced the cover of the soundtrack the waffle stomp was complete. the rest is checkered history

vintage vans style #98 slip-on
logo checkerboard
white foxing stripe
made in usa circa 1989
new in box
US5/UK4.5

BUY-IT-NOW! ¬
http://pillowheat.com/collections/front-page/products/vans-style-98-us5-1

vintage VANS logo checkerboard SLIP-ON style #98 black & white checks MADE IN USA 1980's dead stock jeff spicoli fast times OFF THE WALL US3 US6

 I am the 1st to admit having overlooked styl #98 & certainly feel it has been overshadowed for some time. it was the model that thrust the brand into the mainstream & despite strong ties with bmx, perhaps this is why it remains much maligned & somewhat too obvious a choice. this however is about to change

 we forsee a style #98 comeback & if vans embrace the multitude of back catalogue colorways, prints & scenes then next summer may well be the season of the slip-on

 checkmate

 heat check

vintage vans style #98 slip-on

logo checkerboard

made in usa circa 1988

new in box

sizes...

 US3/UK2.5

US6/UK5.5

BUY-IT-NOW! ¬

http://pillowheat.com/collections/front-page/products/vans-style-98-us3

style profile; VANS style #36 OLD SKOOL (update) ¬ the nuances & the new answers

we would be repeating ourselves by saying style #36 has never been one of our favourite models & the pattern continues to repeat itself as we fall in love time & again with each original we re-discover. we have also claimed in the past the old skool to have remained relatively unchanged since 1977 however this is only contradicted upon securing an early example which are now very rare. 

 certain design modifications/oversights have occured during the evolution of the #36 since 1977. 

most noticeably was the extended toe box of later models. the departure from van's traditional deck shoe mould & the lacing to the toe of a style #36 offers a more athletic aesthetic which endears itself to trainer/sneaker appeal. wider lace rows meant more of the tongue was visible & suede eyestays could be seen to almost reach the first foxing. (pics via @artifactbags)

accompanying this was the presence of what has become known as the V stitch, sitting under the tail of the sidestripe which was later modified to a single arch. this feature was re-introduced on various late 90's models as vans began to re-visit early terrain. 

in addition to differences in heel tab & heel pads over the years the last structural change was the change from the early straight cut bumper to the later angle cut. we are not exactly sure when many of these changes took place however we will continue to add new updates as we uncover more buried treasure & the evidence thought buried with them.

style profile; VANS blue & red style #95 DOGTOWN era

 in reply to part B of our question on tues, the 2-tone #style95 that most embodies the spirit of the brand is of course navy &.... red! #dogtown day!

 

checkerboard aside, the 2 colours which best capture the essence of the vans brand is the 2-tone combination of blue & red. since we opened for business & for perhaps the preceding decade of my life, on top of our hunting list of targets was always the blue/red/blue #95. so loaded with meaning & so lauded by core subculture, there was a time when wearing a pair was a statement of intent. despite our best intentions we have only uncovered a couple pairs in that time. we were lucky enough to dig up these some years back, however of these 2 were singles (now in the vault) & the third was a killer 70's new old stock....

 customer testimonial ¬
the only NOS pair of dogtown #95s we have had the pleasure to offer found her way back to the beach. not to the sandy shores of so cal however, but to the italian shores of the mediterranean.

 the only other made in usa dogtown #95 we have uncovered graced the pages of front & huf magazines on the feet of arabella drummond before being sold to a lucky customer.

 as legend has it the dogtown kids began by wearing 1 red & 1 blue style #44. of course steve van doren allowed the likes of tony alva to buy 1 van at a time to combat the thrashing given to the trailing foot. the natural next step was getting tony & stacy instore to design the archetypal style #95 in blue/red/blue. & the rest is his story!

 not sure where jay was when tony & stacy were designing the off the wall #95? probably in the green room.... or the blue/red/blue room!
(by glen e via Skateboarding Hall of Fame)

 of course there was late 70's/early 80's crossover appeal into the factory flavoured world of bmx as tinker suarez reveals

 didnt you just hate that kid who hit puberty like 5 years before you. i was always the small one in second place.... but you know i always had the killer shoes

nobody does a 'leary' like harry himself ¬
via vector bmx FB

'green coping' by Hugh Holland Photo. he's doing far better than just coping. he's ripping!

style profile; DOGTOWN & Z-BOYS

 

 if there was ever 1 solid #style44 #vansauthentic & 1 2-tone #style95 #vansera that embody the spirit of the brand... what colours would they be?

 

 i can honestly say that this photograph changed my life. when i was a kid i collected.... well, everything, including film flyers & movie posters. in the early 00's when i saw craig stecyk's picture of jay adams adorning promotional material for an upcoming documentary i was transfixed. the moment was like a spiritual checkpoint i was meant to experience in order to guide me on the right path. the path to eventually see the aforementioned documentary..... whereby thereafter all my aspergers-like OCD (Orchestral Compulsiveness in the Dark) henceforth crystallised in light of the fact that now, there was only VANS.

 i was of course talking about the 2001 documentary dogtown & z-boys. now if you are reading this we are somewhat like-minded however IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS DOCO I IMPLORE YOU.... WATCH IT NOW! & far from being the vans indulgence & brand flag waving that you might expect, this film resonates deeper than that. it reflects on a moment in time, not whereby culture is re-defined or re-invented because there was no culture like this before to reinterpret. as such, a new sub-culture was itself invented & defined by every passing moment. it captures the birth of the now!

 despite being a vans commissioned 'off the wall' production, vans is only mentioned 1 in this film! truth be told i am not from a hard core skate background. i thrashed my schmitt stix rip saw back in 1988 but then a guy called michael jordan came around & dictated my interest for the next decade plus. watching dogtown however was the point of no return. 1 'enhanced' viewing was enough as thereafter my vans-driven obsession was in full swing. many years later i re-visited the film, anticipating the vans laden product placement to explain my (w)hoarding, but it never came. the vans are almost incidental & the placement subliminal. but thats why it was successful. & for the vans narrative skateboarding was at 1 time incidental, but it became the incident which defined their future & one captured in what's often voted in the top 5 doco's of all time.

 it's incredible that so many photographs let alone videos were around to capture this cultural revolution. we are grateful for the visionaries including Craig R. Stecyk III, Glen E. Friedman, Hugh Holland, Jim Goodrich et al