Talking To Geoff Rowley At The Dime x Vans XLT Pop Up In Paris
Geoff Rowley has been instrumental in skate fashion for decades.
He single handedly spearheaded Vans Skateboarding with the most iconic Ads and products. If you grew up in my generation of skateboarding there’s a really good chance you had one of the iterations of the Rowley shoe or even a pair of the iconic Volcom jeans.
He still has pro shoes coming out with the brand year after year but as fashion would have it, things have come full circle and when Dime got a whiff of getting to do another collaboration shoe with Vans, they wanted to revisit the XLT.
Dime never do anything in half measures so the commercial was naturally brilliant and we knew that if they were throwing an event to launch the shoe in Paris we had to be there to watch the madness unfold. They once again did not disappoint. The production was impeccable, commentary hilarious, music was pumping and the skateboarding was deadly. We’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking as you scroll through our catch up with the legendary Geoff Rowley on reliving the XLT experience.
Do you remember the first time you saw this shoe?
Yeah I drew it on a piece of paper.
Where were you living at that time?
Orange County, Huntington Beach.
Oh ok, you’d already made it to the states.
Yeah, I was four years into living in the states. Man, that’s not a long period of time, it felt longer than that. But I’d been living in the states about four or five years when we put this shoe out. This was my second shoe. We set the DNA on my first shoe, so doing the second shoe was a lot easier. People liked the side stripes and the little OTW logos so I knew what I wanted to put in the shoe. It needed all the original DNA and it just needed to not be a vulcanized shoe that was for everyone that skated, not just your core gnarly skater. That was kind of the mindset behind it.
Why did you want to do a non-vulcanized shoe?
Cause the brand was growing like wild fire. When I first started riding for Vans I had a three year deal and each year I could design a shoe at my own discretion. So within those three year periods I didn’t want to do the same thing. My first shoe was the perfect vulcanized shoe for me, I made it for me selfishly, happy as pie. It has all the same logo and branding and DNA. When I wasn’t skating as much, truly, I wanted to wear a brand that wasn’t a tennis shoe company, like a football company or a basketball company. I was fine with a lot of elements that were in those shoes, you can still skate in a shoe that is not a vulcanized shoe. That was the mind set truly.
It’s kind of funny cause it’s gone the other way these days where all the shoe companies are trying to make a cup sole and the skaters seem to want to go back to a vulc sole, which in some ways doesn’t make as much sense for skating.
Yeah, but there’s a certain amount of purity to that too. The brands that resonated with me that had a certain type of product, like a Levis brand with denim that was shrinked to fit, that’s the mentality of vulc for me. It kind of melds to your feet and not every pair is going to be the same as the next pair, but when you get them right you have a really nice fitting comfortable shoe. Granted, they’re not a thick shoe, they’re not built that way, but that was the product that I wanted. I just need flexibility, board feel and grip. The XL2 has that, even though it’s more of a lifestyle skate shoe, it has that. I could stand in it right now and do a kick flip and that would feel the same way as it did on the vulc shoes but they’re a lot lighter, they’re a lot foamier so it’s a different experience.
How is it seeing the shoe again with this Dime guys bringing it back to life?
It was flattering because with that kind of shit, when it comes full circle and someone’s honest and goes, “that’s the first skate shoes I had”. That’s kind of how I was approached. Jamie Hart brought it up that there was interest in the shoe and that certain brands were interested in bringing it back. The way and manor in which Dime expressed why they were into it was on point. They were a fan of the brand early on, it effected their lives and they all had stories about skating that shoe. It’s flattering and they’re skaters, so that was kind of an easy one at that point for me.
Do you think you will skate in them again?
I’m skating them today.
Are you excited about that?
I’m intrigued.
It’s a different shoe to the type of skate shoes that are coming out today.
For sure, but you can weigh that up. Like you can pick that up today or pick that up twenty years ago and with the way that it’s built it’s still light weight, it’s not thick on the outsole. It looks puffy, it’s got a puffier tongue, but that’s comfort for your tongue and around your ankle, but the rest of it skates like a normal skate shoe. A lot of the stories, most of the stories of guys are going “that was my favourite shoe, I had 5 pairs of them, I skated them to the ground every single time” cause that shoe wasn’t just for me.
I remember when I would have worn the shoe, we used to put two tongues in.
I never did that. I never did two tongues. I might have done fat laces for a minute but that was kind of a practical thing so that your laces didn’t wear out as much, as much as it was a Beastie Boys kickback. But no, the two tongues, that’s not my style.
I remember collecting tongues from old shoes to put in my new shoes.
You’re kind of missing the point though, are you skating or are you just shoving stuff in your shoe.
I was definitely a victim of shoving stuff in my shoe. I was probably 12 so I didn’t know any better. What’s your favourite thing about Paris?
Just the culture. Big cities are big frickin’ cities and they’re all unique. Paris is a beautiful city. I love that there’s a river running through it. I’m from a town where you’re on the edge of the river in Liverpool, The Mersey. I always feel good when I’m near water all the time. I like that about Lyon in France too, the river runs right through the city, it’s got clear landmarks. It’s really good to skate in Paris, my goodness. Lucky sons of bitches out here.
It definitely looks very cool in photos. I like that you can ride a bike around here, the best way to get around is a bike.
Or just skate.
How was the experience filming the commercial for the Dime collab? I fucking loved it.
Oh it was easy man, B grade movies forever. They pitched it over a video zoom thing, like “hey this is what we want to do” and it sounded wild as fuck to begin with. My first thought was, “you want me to put a wig on and a fake mustache, I can’t even grow a beard and you want to put a fake beard on me? That’s a fine line between bullshit and funny” That was my main concern. Other than that I got it though, I understood. Like I said, because of the way that Dime approached Vans and approached me about doing something with this shoe and that they were fans when they were growing up skating, it made it a lot easier to be like “yeah lets frigging do it, lets go”. I had a blast with it, those guys were funny. Phil at Dime is great and all of the guys who made it were incredible. Good dudes. We had a blast. Part two right? There should be a part two. Me in the gym doing weights and push ups, practicing archery.
You must have been laughing out loud when you first saw it surely.
Yeah I was stoked on it, they did a fuckin funny job. I was just there to enjoy it and not take it too seriously, let them do their thing. Everything they’ve put out before was pretty frickin’ good so I didn’t think they were about to blow it at all. There was a certain amount of trust with that, especially when you’re on the edge of acting and cheese, you’ve gotta be there or it’ll just look wrong. It felt right so it was easy.
I was watching it on my phone for the first time, not really ready for it.
You missed all the cigar shots they took out.
Lets go get us a cigar.
Get the Dime x Vans Geoff Rowley XLT shoe, here.