Vans unveiled its new pinnacle category, OTW by Vans, as a unique platform where the brand’s most elevated product and brand experiences merge with innovators of art, design, style, skate culture, and entertainment.
The Vault by Vans product chapter concludes at the end of 2023, opening the door for the launch of OTW by Vans in early 2024. It will have a distinctive e-commerce experience and be available through a globally-curated selection of wholesale partners.
Vans has struggled to find its way as the skate street lifestyle brand faltered in attempting to return to growth, particularly in the North American market.
Vans revenues were down in the fiscal fourth quarter that ended March 31, declining 14 percent (-12 percent constant-currency) to $857.0 million (see full story here).
Vans’ North American business reportedly remained challenging in the fourth quarter, with sales declining 18 percent in the region. Vans slipped 2 percent in constant-currency terms in the EMEA region. The lone bright spot was the APAC region, where Vans was up 2 percent in constant-currency terms (-7 percent USD) in Q4, but sales were down 4 percent in reported USD terms.
Management at Vans said on a conference call with analysts in May that it saw “encouraging green shoots from new product launches” and “increased focus on maximizing existing product platforms.”
The company said this week that OTW by Vans is a new vision as a pinnacle expression of Vans, conceived under Ian Ginoza, the VP of creative direction for Pinnacle.
“We are rooting the next chapter of Vans in the attitude and mindset of the brand’s true self, defined and shaped by the community of original disruptors. Skateboarding embraced us many years ago from the fringe to drive culture forward,” said Ginoza. “Every step forward will be embedded in that original spirit of defiance and exploration as the pioneers and trailblazers of skateboarding did many years ago and that skateboarders continue to do today. OTW by Vans is a reorientation back to who we truly are… back to ”Off The Wall”.”
Pinnacle apparel and footwear will be presented in two lines under OTW by Vans, OTW and Premium Standard. Both categories are overseen by the OTW by Vans team appointed by Ginoza, including Footwear Design Director Dylan Petrenka and Apparel & Accessories Design Director Lanie Alabanza-Barcena.
OTW by Vans will welcome new collaborators, leading with S.R. Studio. LA. CA. by Sterling Ruby, whose debut will launch in early 2024.
“It is a personal collaboration; it is the first SR. Studio. LA. CA. collaboration. Vans feels right to us; it defines a certain West Coast history,” said Ruby. “The company started in 1966 and has run in tandem with so many skaters, bands and movements that have been influential to me, my art and how my studio runs as a whole.”
Photo courtesy OTW by Vans/Sandy Kim
