Vans Era

About

The Vans Era debuted in 1976 as the brand's Style #95, one of Vans' earliest skateboarding shoes. It released on March 18, 1976, developed with input from California skaters Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta, who approached Vans in 1975 wanting a shoe built specifically for skateboarding. The design added a padded ankle collar, a diamond waffle rubber outsole, and the first use of Vans' Off the Wall logo. Alva has described the collaboration directly: 'For the Era, Stacy and I helped give them some feedback for what we would want with a skate shoe.' Hypebeast calls the Era 'the first shoe ever created by skateboarders for skateboarders.' The shoe became closely tied to the Z-Boys skate crew of Santa Monica and Venice Beach, who wore navy-blue Eras as part of their team look, helping carry the shoe — and Vans — into global skate and streetwear culture. The Era remains a low-top, lace-up canvas sneaker built around that original padded-collar design.