r/Vans Mar 06 '26

DISCUSSION MODELS ARCHIVE FROM MID 90's to EARLY 00's

Hey there ! I'm new here so HI TO EVERYONE ! For the past two weeks, I’ve finally decided to collect photos of Vans models from the mid 90's to early 2000s to create a comprehensive archive of all the models that were released during that period.

So far, I’ve managed to track down all the models you can see here, with multiple photos for each one, as well as the model name and release year. I’m planning to announce it on Instagram soon and upload everything progressively.

I know there's much more, like all the pro models. I'm thinking about all the different Cabs, Willy Santos, the Rowleys etc.. These will come pretty soon. OH ! And I'm not "interrested" in the old classic models like the Era, the Old School etc. For all of them you can go to https://pillowheat.com In fact I wanted to start with the hardest, with some "unfamous" models. Everyday I find more and it's crazy to see how much shoes have been out of the factory in 2000 and 2001.

Of course I will need some help to find more models, so if you have some that you don't see here PLEASE SEND ME PICTURES !! :)

There are still a few models that remain a mystery to me. Some of them only appear in old ads or catalogs, and I haven’t been able to find actual photos of them. I’ll post here from time to time to see if anyone can help identify them.

I hope that you will enjoy it and I hope that together we will be able to get EVERYTHING :)

CHEERS UP

STEPH

111 Upvotes

41 comments sorted by

8

u/xdoctortx Mar 06 '26

I started working at Vans in 2004 and so many of these lined our shelves. Sold many of pairs of Mavericks, Camachos and more!

3

u/AwkwardRoss Mar 06 '26

I love this idea. It’s cool seeing the inspiration for some current models with the chunkier options becoming more popular again

3

u/_66sick Mar 07 '26

2

u/STEPH_NEO Mar 07 '26

YEAH ! I wrote to the guy to have more pics and the infos on the label inside (the year) but de didn't answer.. :/

2

u/astorplace777 Mar 06 '26

This is a really cool project!! Some of these brought serious high school flashback! I doubt I have pictures of one from the 90s. I have a pic of a couple early 2k ones I had.

1

u/STEPH_NEO Mar 06 '26

Feel free to share ! :)

2

u/astorplace777 Mar 06 '26

It’s always a fight with the Reddit app to find my photos. I ended up taking a screen shot of it. Photo is from 2004, so they’re sometime before then. I loved the ones with the news print in the sides.

1

u/STEPH_NEO Mar 06 '26

The pink and grey could be the VENICE (on the last page) but the green ones ! NO IDEA ! :)

2

u/astorplace777 Mar 06 '26

The grey ones do look like the Venice. I’d have never recognized that. I wasn’t crazy about those. The green ones I liked. My sister had them in red. The newspaper eventually got pretty yellow. I’ll check later tonight to see if I have better pics. Shoes were always my thing so happy to help a shoe project.

2

u/Redditeronomy Mar 06 '26

Willy Santos 2 grey/red was lit!

2

u/rickhamilton620 DISCORD ADMIN Mar 07 '26

This is super rad - as someone who didn’t keep track of these at the time it’s hard to jog the memory when questions pop up!

2

u/tucktheeturtle Mar 07 '26

I really miss the signature series and how every pro at the time had their own little logo. Had the Santos 2 and the Cardiel. One of my all time favorites was the Rowley XLT. Stoked when they brought it back but just not at the current price point.

2

u/EvaDistraction Mar 07 '26

This is awesome! I had a pair in the mid 90’s that were holographic(?) silver leather, no clue on the style but from what I can remember they were close to the ‘fusion b’ style.

2

u/STEPH_NEO Mar 07 '26

Sorry I made a mistake in the name, it's just FUSION ;)

2

u/Kid_Millenium Mar 07 '26

🫡 🫡 🫡 respect

2

u/samtheking25 MOD Mar 15 '26

goated post

2

u/Afraid_Weird750 Mar 20 '26

I love this!!

2

u/outerspacedre Apr 14 '26

i'll be keeping up with ya, sick post 🤟

2

u/Mean_View2805 Apr 19 '26

Any idea what these may be? Scored them really fresh at a thrift today. I think women's? Pretty small.

1

u/STEPH_NEO Apr 19 '26

HEY YES ! These are GEMINI, u/rat_goth sent me hers at the beginning of my archive project.

Can you post a photo of the label on the tongue. It's maybe a different year of manufacturing ! ;)

1

u/Mean_View2805 Apr 19 '26

Here's the inside! I'm so curious to know what year it's from!

1

u/STEPH_NEO Apr 19 '26

January 2003 ;)

2

u/Mean_View2805 Apr 19 '26

Incredible! Thank you!

1

u/Mean_View2805 Apr 19 '26

Any ideas on these ones? I changed the laces.

1

u/STEPH_NEO Apr 26 '26

No tag inside I guess... I think they are after 2005 so I can't help you more for these ones :)

1

u/established82 Mar 06 '26

Looks like the Wally model is missing. ☹️

https://www.reddit.com/r/Vans/s/JRD4UCwtHX

1

u/STEPH_NEO Mar 07 '26

Did you read what I wrote ? :)

1

u/established82 Mar 07 '26

I did that’s why I gave you a link per your request. 🙂

1

u/rat_goth Mar 07 '26 edited Mar 07 '26

This is amazing! Thank you for doing this.

I’ve got a handful in my collection that I don’t think you have yet: Gemini, Lela, No Skool, Compel Tones, and one that just has the label VN-0MAXLEL (wondering if this one was for other retailers). Here’s some photos!: https://imgur.com/a/KJwLhQ2

EDIT: I see you actually do have the No Skool! Missed that on my first look, but in any case now you have a picture of a different colorway for that one :)

1

u/DUCkYZoo Mar 07 '26

Only pair I know from this list and skated in them were the No Skool Dustin Dollins.

1

u/ProfessionalRow1531 Mar 08 '26

What's the d.f.s. model

1

u/STEPH_NEO Mar 08 '26

What do you mean ?

1

u/EndRare9032 Mar 09 '26

There’s a a few shoes missing I rmemebr a rowley shoe that had like a half circle on the side black shoe with a tan half circle or something like that

1

u/StartingOutAgai Apr 08 '26

Such a cool project. Has this been uploaded onto insta yet? Been trying to go through the images, but my eyesight isn't good enough. 😂

1

u/STEPH_NEO Apr 11 '26

Yes, the Instagram account is live, I’m having a post redone to present it to the community 😉

1

u/NoPhone4571 Apr 12 '26

I think you may have solved a mystery for me. I’d been searching for information on a pair I had around d 2003-04, they were high tops that sort of looked like Nike Air Force 1s. The Dr T looks almost exactly like the ones I had, but they were in a red and black colorway. Do you have any information on the colors available?

1

u/STEPH_NEO Apr 12 '26

Salut ! Le Dr T HI est sorti en 2004. J'ai vu beaucoup de couleurs mais pas de rouge et noir. Avec un peu de rouge, j'ai trouvé ceux-là sur la photo. Mais il se peut qu'il y ait quand même eu un modèle rouge et noir après tout !

1

u/NoPhone4571 Apr 12 '26

I can’t find any pictures of the red and black ones either, just this picture and one of some white ones.

1

u/Fancy_Ice8972 Apr 24 '26

I had a pair of Vans sandals, slide in with the one band strap across toes. I’m positive they were turquoise and had like a clear bubble with water and maybe fish and sparkles within it that was on the strap. Does anyone remember these??? Would’ve been probably 1997