20 years is a long time in skateboarding. To be honest, it’s a long time in our general existence. The fickle winds of fashions change, trends evolve and years later we’re all baffled how we made it out the house looking like we’d gotten dressed in the dark in Oxfam. However, some things don’t change. Some things hardly change at all and as the years go by, eventually everything else fades away and you’re left with an institution.
This year Steve Caballero celebrates the 20 year anniversary of the release of his debut pro shoe on Vans, the second signature shoe in skateboard history (the first being the Natas shoes by Etnies) and to celebrate this monumental achievement, the fine folks over at Vans have re released the two original colour ways in limited runs to mark the occasion. As I am pretty much down for all things Caballero related, I was stoked out of my simple little mind to get a fresh pair of the black suede/gray leather colour ways in the post and this is why.
Getting them out of the Croc skin effect box, there are some nice touches on the shoes; a cutting guide printed on the inside to convert them to Half Cabs, the “20” tab at the back, the dragon on the insole, the original toecap with the seam (dropped from the half cab in recent years) is included, which means that although you know these beauties would be amazing to skate in, they are more a nostalgic keepsake. Which is fine by me as I’m definitely not skating them, for a start I wouldn’t want to think about ruining them as they aren’t exactly abundant; as far as I know, they are a limited edition for this year which makes them even more special and means that you should definitely snap them up before it is too late.
I honestly can’t find anything wrong with them, but as previously stated I’d be at the front of the queue if Cab were selling farts in jam jars. The guy can do no wrong in my eyes, he has pushed skating for the last 33 years and is still actively involved in the industry, you can’t get more legit than that. Here’s to the next 20.
Dickfingers