Here's the first up-close look at the brand new Vans Vault collaboration with everyone's favourite video blogger Levi Maestro! It seems like forever since Levi first turned a camera on himself and started sharing his inspiring travels and encounters with the world. There's a hushed, humble integrity to the premium grey leather and suede uppers here that seems to fit Levi's affable nature to a tee. Flip them over though and there's a bright rainbow blend that perfectly captures his irrepressible passion for life and taking on new experiences. We caught up with Levi to get the inside word on how the colab came about and what the design means to him.
Sneaker Freaker | Levi Maestro + Vans Vault from levi maestro on Vimeo.
Hey Levi, what’s shaking in Maestro land?
All is great, moving things forward and letting things move me! Working on a bunch of new videos and finally seeing the release of my sneaker that’s been in the works for the last two years.
Tell us about your Vans. Is this a dream come true?
Absolutely a dream, especially the fact that it’s with Vans. Growing up as a skateboarder, that was what defined me and if you made it as a pro, one of the things you might be lucky enough to get was your own sneaker. I didn’t make it as a pro, but thanks to Vans believing in me, I got my own shoe!
Were you hands-on in the design process?
Definitely, they completely let me run free. When we first sat down I asked them if I could take the side stripe off, then how about deconstructing the panels and the stitching. By the third question I realised that they really were going to let me do whatever I wanted.
I’m guessing there’s a lot of you in there. Are you grey up top and fruity on the bottom like the shoe?
It’s worth way more than just a sneaker or a collaboration to me. Grey is just my favorite color and the bottom is like the idea of how a person can sometimes be different inside than they appear on the exterior. I got the multicolour idea from a sneaker I had from them with a three-color bottom, seven is the number of completion so that’s how I ran it.
What’s with the square lace holes?
This is something I’m really hyped about because I haven’t seen it on another Vans shoe. I’m kind of stuck on waxed laces and since the rest of the shoe is so clean and simplistic, I wanted the laces to flesh cleaner than they typically do with eyelets.
And the materials? The leather looks super nice....
It’s for Vault by Vans and this tier of the brand uses all premium leathers and suedes, so I got to pick some real fancy pieces for these joints!
