Vans Old Skool 'Zap'
Colorway: Black/True White · Style code: VN0A5KRF96C · Price: $2682 · Availability: Available now
More colorways: Vans Old Skool 'Pig Suede - Rabbit' (VN0A5KRF888) · Vans Old Skool 'Diy Checkerboard' (VN0A5KRF8AX) · Vans Old Skool 'Cultivate Care' (VN0A5KRF8BC) · Vans Old Skool 'Desert Sun' (VN0A5KRF8ED) · Vans Old Skool 'Rain Drum' (VN0A5KRF8EE)
Black suede is the base here, and the make-up is built around how little else is going on. With the panels all in one dark shade, the white elements carry the entire design: the laces, the tape edging the sole and the leather stripe that curves across both quarters. That stripe is the feature the model introduced to the brand in the first place, and on a blacked-out upper it is the only line the eye has to follow.
At $70 the pair sits a rung above the plainest canvas versions, which is what a suede upper costs across this range. The hardware is common to the whole family: metal eyelets, a padded collar around the ankle, a reinforced toe cap and a vulcanised rubber sole with the waffle tread. Suede on a dark colourway is the most forgiving material in the line, since it takes a brushing and comes back rather than holding the permanent grey a pale canvas picks up along the sole edge.