HuaTunan x Vans Old Skool 'Year of The Tiger'
Colorway: Black · Style code: VN000ZDFBLK · Release date: February 2022 · Price: $105 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Vans Old Skool (VN000ZDF1WX)
The lunar Year of the Tiger opened on 1 February 2022, and this collaboration was timed to it. Black suede carries the artwork across the upper, a base dark enough to let brushwork read clearly and durable enough to survive being worn rather than displayed. Keeping the panels in one colour also means the artist's marks land on the shoe as a single continuous surface instead of being interrupted by colour blocking at every seam.
Zodiac releases arrive every year across the industry and most of them reach for red and gold. Working in black is the decision that separates this pair from the rest of that calendar. The shoe underneath is unchanged, with a padded ankle collar, a reinforced toe, metal eyelets, the leather sidestripe and a vulcanised rubber sole finished with the waffle tread. It reached shelves in February 2022, at the start of a zodiac year that runs on the lunar calendar rather than the western one.