From their days exclusively covering the feet of California skaters to their resurgence as the official shoe of the KarJenner family, it seems pretty undeniable that Vans will forever be a classic wardrobe staple. With the rise of athleisure, a trend that’s showing no sign of abating any time soon, the sneaker has officially made the seamless transition from the Venice Beach boardwalks to the front rows of fashion week.
And now, the brand wants to do more than just make a sartorial impact, aiming to make a charitable one as well with their Custom Culture initiative, a contest for high schoolers across the country to design their own sneakers and attempt to win $50,000 for their school in the process
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Vans created their Custom Culture contest to help inspire and support students’ creativity, while also drawing attention to the ever-dwindling arts education budgets in this country. The company explains on their website for the design challenge, “Vans believes everyone should be empowered to express themselves creatively and should be given the tools to do so.” And so they began their nationwide contest, asking high schoolers to submit their best creations based around a different theme each year (2017 is technology) via the blank canvas of an all-white Vans slip-on.
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This year, more than 3,000 high schools chose to participate in the Custom Culture event, and on Wednesday voting will open to the public to vote for their top five favorites out of the pre-selected top fifty entrants before someone is finally chosen on May 10.
The winner won’t just receive supreme bragging rights for the year as well as a very fresh pair of kicks; their high school will also receive $50,000 to help support their art department and encourage more of that award-winning creativity.
In addition to the thousands of students who submitted themselves to the Custom Culture vote-off, the sneaker brand also tapped a number of influencers like Anna Sui, P.S. I Made This, Pizza Slime, Donald Robertson, The Cartorialist, and Danielle Victoria to design a set of shoes of their own. Now our only question is, how long do we have to wait for Vans to actually produce a pair of those marabou-trimmed Anna Sui bad boys? Our summer wardrobe needs to know ASAP.
Which pair is your favorite? How would you redesign the skate shoe? Sound off below!