Under The Palms

Forgive the ignorance. Just want to know
if the AV N. A's are a Sk8-low replacement
or what. Don't see any Sk8-lows on the
corporate site.

Cheers
dp

Sk8-lo's go in and out of production. The AV N.A.'s are definitely similar, but you'll notice they don't have as thick of a piece of leather on the ollie area. So they're more like a low-top version of the vintage style of sk8-hi's that's been having a resurgence lately (and my favorite style of them, too!). The insoles are also ortholite, so they're different than the PU drop-in insoles in sk8-lo's. They also have the sidestripe embroidered in them, unlike sk8-lo's.

Both styles are awesome and I'd recommend them! I really love the AV N.A.'s, though. Perhaps even more than the sk8-lo's now.

Just a few minor tweaks then (except for the insole).
Cheers, Rocket! Got any pics of some of yer favs??

Both are derived from their high-top counterparts, the Sk8-Hi, and the Native American. Anthony Van Engelen gets Vans to make them in a low top, and then he gets credit for modifying them, and they put "AV" at the beginning of the shoe name. The Native American's most notable feature is the ollie pad, which most of the time on the low, they just omit it, and just put a stitch line where it should be. The Sk8-Hi and Sk8-Hi Reissue are almost identical, except for the lace eye row, which stays the same width all the way down to the last eyelet, as where the modern Sk8-Hi evolved, with a wider panel at the bottom, for an ollie pad of some sort. That's the most notable differences between these two shoes. Vans uses all combinations of these features on different models, sometimes even giving them new names, like the escuela.

AV Sk8-Low:


AV Native American Low:

Oh yeah, I didn't really delve into the comparisons between the AV Native and the Native American, but the original Native Americans had a toe cap, similar to Chucks, oftentimes in leather (at least now, that's how they seem to be made. I think I've seen some pics of vintage pairs with rubber toecaps). They also didn't have the sidestripe embroidered. So to me, these always remind me more of a sk8-hi, due to the toe. It's a bit of a hybrid, if you ask me, since it's not really a direct translation of the Native Americans and seems inspired by sk8-hi's as well.

Cool info guys, thanks!

I love how much history and background there is with these models.