" I couldn’t skate, but I still wore Vans growing up just like every other kid," Imran Potato says, smilingly. "Mall-rat swag. I just wanted the best combo of comfy and cool, and Vans were always that."
So, when Imran Potato (real name: Imran Moosvi) set out to remix a newer Vans' skate sneaker as part of his debut Vans OTW collaboration, he elected to again chunk up the already beefy Vans Knu Skool shoe with weather-resistant insulation, yielding what Potato concisely calls "A fat Old Skool."
This is Imran Potato at his tamest. The man who birthed the caveman clog upon the world doesn't typically reel in his creative impulses and, yet, his Vans collabs (this is his second) are relatively approachable.
In fact, the Imran Potato x Vans OTW Knu Skool MTE shoes that release via Imran Potato's website and OTW's web store on April 3 are his tamest Vans shoes to date. What gives?
"[With my Vans collabs] I usually go for shoes I personally wear," Potato explained. "Even though the Potato Vans might seem far-off from the rat slippers, they still hold personal value to me because I’ve been into oversized sneakers forever."
If Potato's eponymous imprint taps into his Freudian id, his Vans collabs reflect his ego. These are the approachable, grounded, and still-fun shoes indicative of his most reigned-in design cues.
The Knu Skool, a hefty '90s shoe that Vans revived with a 2022 Imran Potato team-up, is his idealized canvas.
Potato's new iterations look rather conventional, by his standards, but they're puffed up by internal upgrades; namely, a layer of Primaloft beneath the suede uppers that both keeps toes warm and keeps rain out.
"Just an overall cozier version of the regular Knu Skool," contends Potato.
Other tweaks include subtly rugged outsoles for tougher grip and "gusseted tongues," according to Vans, which are really just inflated for extra volume.
Sometimes less is more.
Considering we're talking about Imran Potato, the guy whose oeuvre previously included enormous Nike-shaped backpacks and C&D-baiting monogrammed socks, that his new Vans shoes are less actually is quite a bit more.
