October 12, 2004

{ Vans - Custom Old Schools }

DIY = Design-It-Yourself. Custom culture is all the rage these days, but usually that means you're just buying into somebody else's design. Vans remedies that and puts you behind the drawing board with their Custom Series, allowing you to completely modify the look of your very own pair of shoes. The Old School offers 11 different mod points, and a huge palette to choose from, so you can rock whatever sick colorway you like. I burned hours fiddling around with the options, torn between creating something fairly subdued that fits my drab wardrobe or whipping out a pair of beautiful eye-sores. I'm too lazy to do the math, but there are literally thousands of possible color-schemes and I tried most of them. Now I just have to wait a few weeks while they get stitched together and then WHAMMO!, I'm wearing a pair of Adam Barraclough originals. Aces! Vans offers customizable versions of both their Old School design and the Classic Slip-On, in Mens, Womens and Boys sizing. The Slip-Ons will run you around fifty bucks, and the Old School rings in at sixty. Considering these are custom stitched and you make the call on colors and design, that's one hell of a deal. I know you're dying to find out what colors I went with. Eventually, I'll post a nice shot of them fresh out of the box and on my feet, but in the meantime here are a few of the ideas I toyed with. You can go to the Vans site and recreate them using the really simple Flash-based customizer, and get a very clear idea of how they would look. While you're at it, you can submit your own design in their Custom contest. Just whip up a pair of Old Schools and submit them to be judged by the band Jimmy Eat World (since Sassy magazine isn't around anymore, I'll say it- "Cute Band Alert!") and if they like them well enough you could win that pair for free. Just click on the Custom Old School link below, and fill in with the following options to see what I came up with- Ketchup and Mustard - Red sueded heel, toe and eyerow with bright yellow quarter-panels and tongue. My brother and I agreed that this looked a bit too Ronald McDonald. The CrownDozen - Dark blue heel, toe and eyerow with Dream Blue quarters and tongue, white stripe and Royal Blue accents. I wanted to seriously represent for the C-12 by incorporating the site's color scheme into my design. Damn they look good. The Big Boy - Red heel, toe and eyerow, Red Check on the quarters and tongue, white stripe and trim. The ultimate tribute to The Big Boy of Bob's and Frisch's fame. It would look spectacular with a pair of red-checked overalls and a platter with a giant hamburger on it. Bumblebee / Charlie Brown - Black heel, toe and eyerow, yellow quarters and tongue, black stripe, foxing, laces and trim. Yellow foxing stripe. A bit loud and dramatic, but that's what it's all about, isn't it? Back in Black - All black. Everything. Even laces and the rubber foxing. (add a red foxing-stripe to make The K.I.T.T., my tribute to Knight Rider) The Retro Jordan - Red heel, toe and eyerow, black stripe, laces and collar, white quarters, foxing and tongue. That's some '86 style right there boy! The Ska - Black Check quarters and tongue. Black laces, stripes, and suede. White foxing. Made me want to break out my Specials records and listen to "Gangsters" while skanking to the beat. Rude boy indeed! Classic NES Edition - Black heel, laces, foxing and stripe. Charcoal toe, tongue and quarters. Red eyerow and foxing stripe. I'm an 8-bit Nintendo whore, and this would go great with my NES-styled Game Boy SP. Just add dorky control-pad belt buckle.

     » Vans Custom Old School
     » Vans Custom Slip-Ons
     » Vans.com

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