Vans Vault x MASTERMIND WORLD - Presented By UrlfreezeShops

This season, Vans Vault partners with UrlfreezeShops and MASTERMIND WORLD to create a capsule that celebrates the importance of minute details and subcultural styling. The SoCal label’s Sk8-Hi and Old Skool are brought under the spotlight, transformed in a way that emphasises intricate details and Masaaki Homma’s penchant for punk styling.  

Since Masaaki Homma founded MASTERMIND in 1997, the label has been centered around a steadfast dedication to the minutiae of design. Fabrics, construction techniques and branding are all cast through the Japanese designer’s meticulous and often-complex lens – a process embodied by the 1,000 plus drafts required to finalise the brand’s iconic skull logo. 

To mirror that considered approach to craft, the Old Skool is reworked to give a cut-and-paste appearance, with just about everything tweaked. The uppers are constructed using premium suede, leather and canvas, detailed further with Vans’ iconic Checkerboard pattern on the lateral side. There’s exposed foam worked into the collars and Sidestripe, while a doubled-up tongue gives the appearance of two sneakers fused into one. MASTERMIND WORLD’s branding is featured throughout — from block letter font to those famous skulls — to adhere to the label’s punk-leaning aesthetic.  

The same experimental approach is used on the Sk8-Hi’s, with the uppers detailed with skull branding and zips to reflect Homma’s rebellious sensibility. The sole unit, meanwhile, is deconstructed, with its foxing tape split, layered and misaligned to adhere to the collection’s cut-and-paste inspiration. 

The palette of the capsule is kept understated — as is typical of the Ura-Hara label — with each shoe coming in both black and white colorways. To accompany the reworked footwear, there’s a co-branded, black and white skate deck, with skulls printed on either side to drive home the capsule’s macabre aesthetic.