Commonwealth x Vans OG Era LX 'Desert Sage'
Colorway: Desert Sage · Style code: VN0A3CXNTNW · Price: $797 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Vans OG Era LX 'OG Static Print' (VN0A3CXN2SW) · Vans OG Era LX 'Night Eyes' (VN0A3CXN4LO) · Vans OG Era LX 'Night Eyes' (VN0A3CXN4M4) · Vans OG Era LX 'Night Eyes - Saffron Calla Green' (VN0A3CXN4M5) · Vans OG Era LX 'Cow' (VN0A3CXN4MB)
The Van Doren Rubber Company opened on 16 March 1966 in Anaheim, California, founded by Paul Van Doren, his brother James and Gordon C. Lee. What made it unusual was the business model rather than the product: the company manufactured shoes and sold them directly to the public from its own premises, with no wholesaler in between. Twelve customers bought deck shoes on the first day (the model now sold as the Authentic), built with a thicker sole than the canvas competition of the time.
Skateboarders found the shoes on their own. The company adopted the phrase Off The Wall in 1976, taken from skate slang, and the logo most people recognise was drawn as a stencil by James Van Doren's thirteen-year-old son in Costa Mesa during the same decade.
The business has not always been steady. It filed for bankruptcy protection in 1984, was sold in 1988 for $74.4 million, and merged with VF Corporation in 2004.
This Era is a collaborative LX build (upgraded materials on the standard low canvas shape), worked in a flat desert sage. It listed at $120.