Old Skool "Style 36"

The Old Skool arrived in 1977 as a quiet but consequential step in Vans history. Originally catalogued as Style 36, it was the brand’s first model to feature a leather upper, a departure from the canvas construction that had defined the lineup to that point. The design carried over the vulcanized sole and low-profile silhouette Vans had built its reputation on, but the addition of leather panels gave the shoe a more durable and structured feel suited to the demands of skaters who were putting the product through serious use.

The most significant detail was the jazz stripe running along the mudguard, a wavy line of contrasting material stitched onto the side panel. That stripe, which would go on to become one of the most recognizable marks in footwear, reportedly originated as a doodle by Vans founder Paul Van Doren drawn directly onto a sample. What began as an informal design note became a permanent fixture and eventually the clearest visual shorthand for the brand itself.

The Style 36 designation reflects where the Old Skool sat in the Vans numbering system of the era, when the company still used a straightforward sequential catalogue system for its silhouettes. The name Old Skool came later, once enough time had passed for the model to carry genuine retrospective weight. In its original form, the shoe was a working skate shoe first and a style statement second, and the side stripe was functional as much as it was decorative, reinforcing a high-wear area of the upper. That balance between utility and graphic identity is what allowed the colorway and silhouette to sustain interest far beyond the skate context it was designed for.