Vans' OTW Label Is Taking the Past & Making It Better
If you weren’t around when we first talked about OTW, Vans’ premium label formerly called the Vault, here’s everything you need to know: It’s Vans sneakers, but more refined, and full of callbacks to the Vans shoes and clothes that started it all.
OTW, which stands for "Off the Wall", is a nostalgic look back at Vans’ skateboarding beginnings, but one fused with the fabrics, textures, and patterns of the contemporary era.
Take Vans’ new look OTW Half Cab shoe, for instance, a take on a Vans skate sneaker first released back in 1992.
For 2024, the shoe arrives with a glow-up by way of a chunky Vibram sole unit, a concoction of suede and mesh on the upper, and a reinforced rubber casing around the outsole.
Then there’s the OTW Old Skool, a modernized iteration of a bonafide icon from the Vans arsenal.
Where the OG Vans Old Skool comes with a canvas upper that sits atop the brand’s signature Waffle outsole, OTW’s new take reinvents proceedings with a luxury knitted upper and a muted off-white midsole.
Vans OTW Season 1, which is the work of Vans’ creative director, Ian Ginoza, also features a handful of new silhouettes for 2024 that have each been inspired by the brand’s archives.
“OTW by Vans is a frontier for progression, experiences and collaboration,” said Ginoza in a press release. “The skateboarding mindset is core to Vans, and OTW enriches that spirit through a distinct perspective to propel culture forward.”
Elsewhere there’s also a luxe range of splendor apparel in the Patchwork Drill Chore Coat and Patchwork Drill Pant, which means you can go full head-to-toe in Vans OTW if you so wish.
OTW is a present-day and more high-end look at some of Vans’ archetypal and still ever-popular sneaker styles, available on OTW's website.
Sure, OTW might look a little too clean to skate in and it might not have the same grittiness as an OG Vans shoe does, but that's not the point. Put bluntly: OTW is taking the past and making it better.
