Abandoning its skateboard-y ways in favor of another more freeform discipline, Vans is to serve a jazz-inspired collection of shoes in collaboration with INVINCIBLE. Ironic because Vans' famous stripe-y logo is called the "Jazz Stripe" and excellent because the shoes are incredibly good.

It marks the second time the Taiwanese sneaker boutique has made over a Vans sneaker, this time dedicating its efforts to the Californian brand's Old Skool and SK8-Mid models.

In indigo denim and washed-out black canvas, INVINCIBLE's “Off the Rhyme” Vans are also paint-splattered, frayed, and "hand"-stitched, with flecks of checkerboard print peeking from beneath their worn-out fabric. 

The collaboration's December 6 release was foretold by an accompanying campaign that shows distorted dancers mid-movement, their uniforms of black turtlenecks recalling dancers or perhaps especially graceful stagehands.

This is how it sounds (or, at least, how it looks) to create Vans with the spirit of free jazz. They're not quite Ornette Coleman but INVINCIBLE's aggro Vans do feel like a manifestation of masterful improvisation executed by skilled hands, tying the sneakers in with INVINCIBLE's other excellent footwear team-ups.

Plus, it's not like the end product is all that difficult to appreciate. Neither of the two sneakers appear all that different from a beat-up pair of skate shoes, save for when you get close enough to notice the intentionally unintentional-looking stitching and panel placement.

But that's INVINCIBLE's point, taking a semi-literal tact to reconsidering Vans' Jazz Stripe as a line of rhythm.

Skateboarding, sneakers and… jazz? Now there's a Venn diagram no one saw coming. 

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