Vans And Depop Champion Community And Creativity With First-Ever Collaboration

Fresh off collections with fellow stateside collaborators Stray Rats and The Simpsons, Vans has traveled across the pond to tap UK-based marketplace Depop for the first time. The outcome?: A six-piece capsule designed by four inspiring creatives from Depop’s community.

London’s Jessica Luostarinen has designed three of the six products in this collection, with the Super ComfyCush Era being her focal point. Rooted in her knack for expressive illustration, the platformed-Vans classic sports vibrant facial imagery across its black upper. Capturing Luostarinen’s desire to make the wearer feel confident, various-sized mouth-in-mid-laugh graphics complement other depicted anatomy. The adjacent long-sleeve t-shirt and hoodie follow suit.

Manchester-based artist Lei-Mai LeMaow also works on the Era, but forgoes the Super ComfyCush tooling. Instead, LeMaow works on the slightly-modified 1976-silhouette, adding her signature Gary character to the pair’s canvas base. Suede overlays across the forefoot, heel, and tongue indulge in an appropriate red. As the designer specializes in graffiti murals and signwriting, sole units are branded with a “MAOW” tag featuring Gary as the “O”. Connor Williams and Yuki Haze outfit their respective Old Skool and Super ComfyCush Slip-On with inspirations from their photography and collage experiences.

The entire Depop x Vans collection is available now on depop.com. Additionally, the marketplace has partnered with Snapchat to enable virtual “try-on” sessions of the shoes using augmented reality.

Elsewhere, the “OFF THE WALL” brand has recently launched the U-Color Collection, which creates blank canvases out of iconic shoes.