Why Everyone Rips Off Vans

Picture a shoe. It has a sleek sloping silhouette unencumbered by laces, rivets, velcro, or buckles and can easily be slipped on and off. There’s a slightly chunky sole and a tag in the middle of it. The shoe is a $45 Vans slip-on, right? Well, it’s close. Picture the same shoe, but the top half, known as the upper, is made out of nubuck leather and instead of Vans, the tag reads Tom Ford. Are you ready to fork over $700 for this shoe yet?

Tom Ford’s blatant copy of the Vans slip-on isn’t the only or even the most flagrant version of the California company’s famous model. Search for slip-ons on a site like Mr. Porter and you can find shoes that would pass for Vans on the street from designers like Givenchy, Bottega Veneta, Lanvin, Common Projects, Balenciaga, Dries Van Noten, Dolce & Gabbana, Maison Margiela, APC, and Alexander McQueen. The cheapest of these is the APC, which still costs almost four times the standard Vans slip-ons, at $170. Read more at Racked.