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Vans Old Skool: the stripe began as a scribble

The most famous side stripe in sneaker history is not a design but a doodle. Vans founder Paul Van Doren drew it as a loose scribble, called it the jazz line, and handed it to pattern maker George Greenwood, who turned it into the shape you now see on every pair. The shoe arrived in 1977, and not under the name you know: it was called Style 36. That explains at once why you meet the number 36 so often in the titles on this page, most of all on the reissues from the Anaheim Factory and Vault series.

It was also the first Vans model with leather reinforcement. Look at the toe and the sides: where the Authentic and the Era are all canvas, the Old Skool puts suede exactly on the spots a skater wears through. The stripe itself is a separately set panel with a double stitch line around it, and down low the waffle outsole carries up into the raised rubber foxing.

The range here is large and the titles explain it. ComfyCush has a softer footbed, Skate is reinforced for the board, Anaheim Factory and Vault OG follow the old build with thicker materials, LX and Premium use richer leathers, and V versions have hook-and-loop straps instead of laces. The shape stays the same in every case.

Within the Vans family the Old Skool is the link where everything comes together. The SK8-Hi is the same shoe with a high collar, the Slip-On drops the laces, and the Era added the padded collar the Old Skool carries too. Five models, one development line, and this is the part where the stripe joined.

On this page you can see which versions of the Vans Old Skool are running hottest right now according to the Hypescore, from what price they’re available, and how many shops have them in stock.