The Gallery Dept. x Vans Authentic 44 looks like it’s been pulled straight off the floor of Josué Thomas’s studio, which is probably the biggest compliment you can give it. This isn’t a polished, packaged version of “art meets sneakers.” It’s a messier one, the one that feels lived in.
Released under OTW by Vans, this capsule leans hard into the brand’s current push for collaborators who aren’t interested in neatness or nostalgia. The black canvas upper comes drenched in heavy, layered paint splatter, the kind you’d normally spend years accidentally building up across shoes you never meant to customise. Each pair is painted by hand and no two pairs look identical, and none of them look clean. That’s the whole point.
Along the foxing tape, the bold “Art That Kills” slogan wraps around the midsole like a wheat-paste poster slapped onto a skatepark wall. A small yellow Gallery Dept. tab near the collar adds the only real pop of colour outside the splatter, while white stitching gives the pair just enough structure to keep it from collapsing into chaos. Vans has explored painterly finishes before, but this feels more like something found, not manufactured.
Buy Gallery Dept. x Vans Authentic 44 “Studio Floors” Online
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