I made a mistake this summer.  I forgot one truly vital learning from my previous 25 years on this planet. In a hot season, cladding your ankles with trainers is a surefire fast lane to misery.   In a mad bid to free myself from the confines of heat and canvas I hastily picked up a new pair of kicks which I’m well and truly infatuated with - the Vans Old Skool Reissue CA.

In an always helpful stroke of blog luck, I don’t think you can actually buy these anymore as the season has now passed, but I figured I’d write about the anyway since I like them so much, and the Old Skool comes in a literal heap of other colours, materials and collaborations.  

Debuting back in 1977, the Old Skool was the first ever shoe to have Vans’ now trademark side stripe - whipped up as a doodle by the company’s founder Paul Van Doren, ‘Style 36’ was also the company’s first leather skate shoe.  Soon it was seen adoring the feet of none other than the likes of skate pioneers Stacy Peralta and Steve Alva.  Now a bonafide classic, many people have put their print on them some in DIY fashion and some as part of of Vans’ seemingly neverending series of collaborations.

Part of their Reissue CA series (who knows what that means, the internet isn’t particularly clear) these specific foot gems have the excellent added touch of coming pre-treated with Scotchgard so the need to worry about things like British summer weather, spilt drinks (guilty) or the shelling out for expensive and ineffective sneaker protection is completely taken away.

Comfy to an extreme, the reason this shoe works is that rather than blasting it out into a one colour/material dullard, the suede and canvas nicely complement each other whilst staying nicely neutral and similar enough that to the passing eye it looks more like a trick of the light than the work of a brilliant aesthetician.  Props to Vans on this one, I’m only going to take these off when the sun stops shining.

I would recommend teaming them up with a pair of faded denim, and a bright yellow t-shirt.  Go grab yourself a pair of 70s history.