BAPE’s Two-Faced Vans Shredder Is a Lesson in Duality

The Story

Some things in life just go together. Peanut butter and jelly, chips and queso, and Vans and BAPE. Honestly, who better to team up with the king of skatewear than the king of streetwear? That's a fly royal court if we’ve ever seen one.

If that's not enough to convince you, let us introduce you to BAPE's Vans Premium Knu Skool sneaker.

This serendipitous collab is an expert mix of BAPE's established style motifs and Vans' classic skatehouse goodness. The lateral side of the shoe wears BAPE's signature green ape camo print along with the brand's signature Shooting Star logo.

The medial side wears a pink iteration of the camouflage print and Vans' signature Jazz Stripe.

Vans' vulcanized outsole also gets some real-deal BAPE treatment with layered shark-jaw embossing and a matching "A Bathing Ape" logo.

A chromed-out BAPE Ape charm finds a home at the base of the laces, and the checkered outsole folds in some of that classic Vans swag.

Available on the Vans website July 17 for $150, the Vans x BAPE Premium Knu Skool sneaker marks the fourth collaboration Vans has done with the Japanese powerhouse. In 2021, Vans and BAPE released a limited-edition BAPE-ed Sk8-Hi 38 DX and Authentic 44 DX, and since then the duo has released a litany of cool, camo shredders together. When it comes to creating fire fusion sneakers, BAPE and Vans never played.

Now, nearly five years since their first collab, BAPE is still turning classic Vans sneakers into bona fide super STAs.

Highsnobiety has affiliate marketing partnerships, which means we may receive a commission from your purchase. Want to shop the products our editors actually love? Visit HS Shopping for recs on all things fashion, footwear, and beauty.

Original report

Highsnobiety

Read full story

Cookie Preferences

We believe privacy is a right, not a trade-off. Choose exactly what you're comfortable with. You can change these any time. Full privacy policy.

Essential Always on

Required for the site to function

Session management, security tokens, login state, and your cookie preference itself. These cannot be turned off. No personal data is shared with third parties.

Analytics Optional

Helps us understand what content you enjoy

We use anonymised analytics (e.g. Google Analytics) to see which articles perform well, how long people spend reading, and where traffic comes from. This helps us write better content. Your IP address is anonymised and no data is sold.

Personalisation Optional

Remembers your preferences across visits

Remembers your reading preferences and recently read articles so we can surface relevant content. All data stays in your browser — nothing is sent to our servers.

Advertising Optional

Used to show relevant ads that support the site

Allows advertising partners to show you ads based on your interests. If you decline, you'll still see ads but they won't be tailored to you. We work with Google AdSense and similar networks. You can opt out globally at youronlinechoices.eu.