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Interview // Allison Halfhill
Photography // Randy Nakajima
50 years is a milestone mark for any person, relationship or company. For all of 2016, Vans is celebrating their half century of awesomeness with concerts, collabs, and of course, food.
The latter two portions were on full display in LA at the launch event for their latest collaborative collection that calls in renowned chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. Taking it to the kitchen, these culinary kicks have food on the mind and the service industry at heart, composed of all the right materials to survive and stunt on a shift. We caught up with Doug Palladini, vice president and general manager of Vans North America, to hear about the collaborative collection honoring Jon & Vinny’s, animal and Son of a Gun restaurants.
Nice Kicks: First and foremost, congratulations on Vans’ 50th Anniversary! When planning the year long celebrations, what went into deciding which partners to collaborate with?
Doug Palladini: We looked at everything through the lens of who we wanted to thank, and that’s a huge number of people, from employees to retailers to athletes and artists worldwide, and, of course, all of our loyal fans. We also want to feature both heritage and progression, looking at both the last five decades as well as the next five. We hope to involve as many of these people as possible over the year in one way or another.
Nice Kicks: How did the collaborative process begin with Jon and Vinny?
Doug Palladini: We did our first kitchen shoe project with Tyler Kord of No. 7 in Brooklyn. The response to that project far exceeded our expectations so we started to talk about another project and Tyler suggested Jon and Vin. After one dinner with them at animal it was pretty clear they were a perfect match as loyal Vans fans and extremely talented and creative people.
Nice Kicks: To the average eye, these look like your basic run-of-the-mill materials, but that is definitely not that case. How important was work functionality to Jon and Vinny?
Doug Palladini: Virtually ever chef with whom we meet makes the point that they just want to wear Vans, so the challenge for us was to add the necessary functionality in a “hidden” way. The canvas uppers are fully water-resistant and can be hosed down after work. The upgraded drop-in footbed adds the necessary support for being on your feet all day. The one area we are still experimenting with is non-slip soles, and we’ve prototyped a number of versions for our friends in the kitchen to help us work through.
Nice Kicks: At the launch event, a lot of creativity went into the visual merchandising of the shoes alongside food. What can you tell us about planning a sneaker event with two of LA’s most consummate hosts?
Doug Palladini: The exploration of creative expression in various forms has been really intriguing and what we learned is that the fundamental ethos of skateboarding and culinary arts are almost identical. In fact, many of the people in kitchens started in skate and surf, so the ties are both literal and theoretical. A Sk8-Hi sitting next to a wedge of parmigiano reggiano actually makes a lot of sense.
Check out more pictures of the Jon & Vinny, animal & Son of a Gun Vans collections from the star studded launch party in the photos below.
