Skateboarding looked a little different when Anthony Van Engelen first laced up his sneakers, picked up his deck, and pushed off onto the fresh SoCal pavement. Well, a lot different, actually. AVE, as he’s affectionately known to the devoted skate faithful, hails from a time before the extreme sport experienced its mainstream peak—back before they were handing out Olympic medals for varial heelflips and skaters weren’t leading the runway of the biggest Maisons in the business.
Still, according to AVE, despite skateboarding’s inevitable evolution, its off-the-cuff, renegade spirit remains—only now with a more well-rounded afront and updated tech to help riders reach their full potential. “I think when kids get into skating now, their starting point of what is possible is more advanced from those who started many years ago,” the skate pioneer shares. “The groundwork has been laid; not much is impossible anymore.”
As a true street skate OG, AVE has always felt a deep connection to the culture that helped shape his life for over three decades. Tapping into this spirited sense of community, Vans—the undisputed authority in all things skateboarding—reignited its partnership with the respected figure to produce the iconic brand’s most advanced skate shoe to date: the Vans AVE 2.0.
Born into an era when Shoe Goo and duct tape were religiously employed to keep worn-out kicks in rotation, AVE understands the importance of durability in sneakers tasked with executing the tactical maneuvers necessary for skating. For the second installment in the AVE series, the renowned skater and the ingenious Vans design team constructed a cutting-edge style that stands up to the speed, power, and persistence of someone like Van Engelen.
Known to relentlessly seek out the boundary, just to then extend it further, AVE’s reputation as a gusty go-getter has landed him in the skating pantheon among other greats who share the same unyielding ethos. Inspired—and battle-tested—by this tenacious spirit, the new Vans AVE 2.0 comes fresh out of the box, ready for it all—slides, spins, and fakie shoves included. “We went into this project focusing on pure performance first,” Vans’ Director of Footwear Design Neal Shoemaker states. “Our main goal with the AVE 2.0 was to push the design. We felt rewarded by the risks we took on the previous shoe, which gave us some license to make this one feel like a true piece of equipment.”
With its specialty knit upper designed with zonal construction for extra stretch support, RapidWeld™ suede vamps, and an UltimateWaffle™ mid/outsole for improved durability and cushioning, the AVE 2.0 skate shoe is a testament to Vans' unwavering commitment to performance. Finished with a TPU heel cage for increased lockdown, and we have yet another marvel added to Vans’ lineage of innovative sneaker silhouettes.
Like AVE, the legendary brand first entered the skateboarding arena at a point when others were weary of going all-in on the “non-traditional” sporting spectacle. Debuting its first official skate shoe, the Era, in 1976, Vans immediately set a precedent for excellence. Not long after, the indelible retailer quickly separated itself from the competition by expanding its skate-specific catalog over the next five years with the additions of the classic Old Skool, Sk8 Hi, and Slip-On models. Utilizing heavy-duty canvases, pure crepe rubber outsoles, and vinyl-padded ankle collars, Vans emphatically positioned itself as one of the leading names in skateboarding, garnering a legion of loyalists in the process.
“For almost 50 years now, Vans has had such a genuine and intrinsic relationship with skateboarding and skate culture,” Vans’ Leading Archival Storyteller Catherine Acosta notes. “[The brand] has consistently supported and invested in [skating] building and bringing together generations of communities.”
Fast-forward to today, and while the industry has undergone a vibrant renaissance, mainstays like Vans and Van Engelen endure through each evolutionary stage. Culminating in their latest collaboration, the storied duo continues to redefine the standard time and again.
To consummate its latest advancement, Vans threw a proper skate-fueled celebration in honor of the futuristic footwear—it’s only fitting, right? Hosted at the brand’s flagship location in Downtown Los Angeles, the night saw a bevy of skateboarding fanatics flood into the venue to revel in the spirit of the new release. The night kicked off with a panel discussion featuring Shoemaker and AVE detailing the technical intricacies of the shoe, along with a museum-style installation chronicling the relationship between Vans and skating; novices and know-it-alls alike received the inside scoop on all that went into the creation process.
As the night continued, the masses spilled into the street to watch the AVE 2.0 in action as a hoard of skate amateurs and pros showed out for an impressive exhibition. With music blaring, these aerial acrobats performed inimitable stunts on a series of rails and ramps specially designed by Van Engelen himself.
With the event slowly dying down, it was clear from the night’s happenings and the latest release that the dynamic duo of Vans and AVE not only love everything about skate culture, but that they are skate culture personified, a true manifestation of dedication to the craft.
Shop the AVE 2.0 at vans.com.
