Features

Saturday Deluxe / 6 April 2019

By Paul Sinclair

Comments

63

Vans launch their David Bowie collaboration

California shoe manufacturers Vans yesterday launched their new David Bowie ‘Off The Wall’ range in the UK with a collection of footwear that draws “inspiration from some of Bowie’s most influential works”.

This collaboration is officially endorsed by the Estate who have previously approved a David Bowie watch made by Raymond Weil.

Six individual shoe designs are available including the ‘SK8-Hi’ (pictured above) which places the ‘classic’ Vans checkerboard pattern and Diamond Dogs era ‘Bowie’ logo on a ‘high top’ boot; some white ‘Old Skool Shoes’ with Aladdin Sane detail and logo and SDE’s favourite, some Blackstar plimsols, which are quite understated. There’s also some modish dotty blue ‘era’ shoes based on the 1969 Space Oddity/David Bowie album cover design and perhaps the runt of the litter, a yellow/black Hunky Dory design which are rather slipper-like, with a furry checkerboard pattern at the front and rear.


Click image to enlarge

Whether you view this as a cheap cash-in or groovy collaboration most sizes are already sold out via the website and demand seems to be extremely high in-store.

If you’re interested you can find more details on the shoes and where they are stocked over at the Vans website.

 

SuperDeluxeEdition.com helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.

Related Content

63 Comments

63 thoughts on “Saturday Deluxe / 6 April 2019”

  1. I was all for getting some until I realised they didn’t have a matching flat peak baseball cap that I could wear with them at a jaunty angle.

    Well, that and the fact that I’m in my 50s and don’t want to look like a skateboardist.

  5. Others have mentioned the Beatles, but Vans has also produced “limited edition” shoes for Led Zeppelin and Slayer. Those are all sold out as well, I believe.

  8. I’m 50 on Sunday so I had to get the space oddity vans. If you sign up to offspring via email you get 10% off.mine came to £58.49 free post

  9. Oh dear, look kinda clumsy or poor too in design. What would Mr. Bowie himself thin of this dancing on his grave? Perhaps widow and estate is willing to grab any after death sales possible.

    Sad! I stick to music and a few so called band shirts (not Bowie’s) as blasts from the past.

  10. Unless the artist had specifically not want to have his/her name or music associated with specific merchandise or company or any of them, then basically the estate can do just about anything. From t-shirts to underwear to food to whatever.

  12. Bowie has all kinds of ventures going when the I tenter was new. He pushed the envelope with special editions with Ryko records and so on. Maybe I’ll be the dissenter here but I think he’d be ok with pushing his iconic brand/personas.

  13. I rather liked the Black Star slip-ons but they had sold out. I do find vans very comfortable and at least they make them in my size (UK13).
    Reminds me of the acres of stuff that the Warhol estate endorsed… but if you want a real shock have a look at the American King Crimson site DGM – Islands shower curtains ($120), lamps, cufflinks, bracelet ($110), bathroom accessories, tie ($65), anyone? (all oddly unavailable on the UK site). I hate to think what the forthcoming ITCOTCK prints (in matching numbered pairs) will cost…

  14. I had a look at them in person on Friday. Personally I think they are pretty naff.. although I had a sneaking admiration for the BlackStar ones but it wasn’t a boot, just a slip on. Having said that I don’t wear Vans anyway. From what the staff told me they are flying off the shelves though so I guess some people like them.

  15. Good grief, they are all really quite horrid. In an odd way it makes me rather ashamed to be a Bowie fanatic… This looks like the sort of tat Kiss endorse about every 14 seconds.

  24. I think I will stick with my Sex Pistols Dr Martens boots, I was going to buy a pair of the Bowie Vans UNTIL I saw the designs, absolutely horrible, very disappointing.

  26. Wow. Just wow. There was a reason Bowie didn’t sanction this type of thing during his life time. What in the world is this? A new Low.

  27. What is so ‘Hunky Dory’ about the Hunky Dory slippers/shoes? They look more NY taxi to me. This range of shoes is like something from a bad dream.

  28. All nearly sold out from the Vans website in just two days .

    But all available on eBay of course at twice the original price ;-)

  29. Is his estate in need of cash? There’s indication he would not have wante this. I hate vans shoes. Now if they made Nike running shoes id buy them. Its still wrong tho

  30. I would only buy these if each pair acted like left and right speakers for the respective album. As soon as you have both on and start walking the album starts. Stop to pause. Run to fast-forward. Run backwards to rewind. Skip to skip.

    You heard it here first.

  33. Vans have history with this type of special edition. They produced a rather nice Yellow Submarine set of shoes about four or five years ago that I could never find in my size.

  36. I love the Aladdin Sane Old Skool Shoes… sadly sold out in my size by the looks of it. As for the rest of them…. oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

  37. Cash grab? Yes, it is.
    Did I order? YES!
    But I will wear the shoes, as Vans are my preferred brand anyway.

    By the way, there are Joy Division/New Order Doc Martens, too.

    1. Sex Pistols ones as well were out recently. As a Pistols fan, I didn’t like the designs much.

      I liked the white Bowie vans with the Ziggy slash on them, didn’t like the others too much.

    4. Not that it matters, but Joy Division were hardly synonymous with DMs, as can be seen in any of the more famous pics from the time. I guess we might as weĺl have JD oven gloves

  44. To give context, Vans is a California brand that targets the California skater (skateboarder) and surf culture. They’ve been around for years and were especially massive in the 80s. Sort of an alternative to hip
    Hop Sneaker culture, still massively popular. But in a California, that slipper style shoe is very, very popular in warm weather but that as a massive Hunky Dory fan, I wish that the shoe was better. Too old to pull off the skater thing… :) here, they’re selling out fast. This isn’t a cash grab – I applaud Vans for recognizing a pure F-g legend!

  45. Seriously horrible, no thanks!

    I wonder if people are buying them to wear, to collect or in the hope of selling on for a fast buck…

  47. Is Bowie gonna be the new Stones where literally everything with a surface gets a logo / design on it? How long before we get a Bowie wine? Where I live I’ve seen a bottle of Stones wine for 40 quid! Will I buy it? No, would I buy a new Stones album or rarities volume 2 ? Hell yeah. Proper “product “ as the marketing army would call it.

    1. I’m not positive, but I think KISS licensing is probably more wide spread than the Stones. Whatever the case, this is in really bad taste and devalues the work that Bowie did.

Leave a Reply