Vans doesn't make many vegan core skate shoes. But here's one ...
Vans skate "Half Cab", duck canvas: golden brown black
Check out Andrew Cannon's video review of these shoes. These actually came out in 2024. I still see them in online stores, but most sizes are sold out.
- Mid-Cut Silhouette
- Outsole construction: SickStick waffle-hexagon tread pattern
- Footbed: removable, PopCush
- Elastic tongue-centring straps
- Padded around the ankles
- Padded tongue
- Stitched and overlaid ollie area
- Stitched and overlaid toe cap
- Reinforced heel area
- DuraCap reinforcements
- Upper: textile
Note 1: Duck canvas, also known as cotton duck, is a heavy-duty, plain-woven cotton fabric that's tightly woven and often used for its durability and versatility. It's essentially a canvas, but with a denser, more durable weave than regular canvas.
Note 2: How long have we waited for a vegan half cab? (I know there have been some over the decades but few and far between.)
Note 3: All hail Steve Caballero.
Note 4: Do not confuse this colourway with the "golden brown white", with a wide sole (white on the side of the sole), which is real animal-source suede.
Rowley 1 (?)
The original Vans Geoff Rowley shoes in the year 2000 were vegan, because he was vegan back then. Then he started to eat meat (around 2007) and the Geoff Rowley Vans changed from vegan to leather. None of this has changed.
However, yesterday (1 July 2025), I saw these apparently vegan Geoff Rowleys in a skate shop. The upper felt synthetic. This can sometimes be misleading because there is PU-coated leather, which feels like synthetic.
However, these shoes also had the "synthetic" logo on the materials sticker on the insole - not that these stickers are always the correct ones. So, either this is a mistake or there are some elusive vegan Vans Geoff Rowleys floating about somewhere.
They also had a Vans Rowley XLT shoe - which used to be vegan (in 2001 and 2002 ... I had them). But now the XLT is leather. And the XLT in the skate shop I saw did say leather!