SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BEAT: VANS AND RHUDE

The tie-up between Vans and luxury streetwear brand RHUDE celebrates the Californian heritage and love for the region of both brands with three styles that revisit the Vans California Plate print, culled from the archives, on the Vans retro-inspired BOLD NI design. First introduced in 1963, the Golden State’s black plate originally featured gold numbers and an embossed California logo. RHUDE reimagines the design with branding inspired by the Vans flying-V logo under a black suede upper. The second offering spotlights the blue base plate first introduced in 1969, with same color suede uppers and matching blue RHUDE branding. Installment n. 3 features racing red suede above the 1982 California Sun license plate printed on the foxing. “Growing up surrounded by the skate scene in Los Angeles made collaborating with Vans a surreal moment for all of us at RHUDE,” said RHUDE Design Director Rhuigi Villaseñor. “Vans has a unique history and connection with youth culture which is why I was so excited to push those creative boundaries with this collaboration. From a design standpoint, the colorways I chose are an homage to my love of iconic, classic cars – blue to represent the Mercedes 280 SL, red for the Ferrari 275, and black for the Porsche Carrera.”