Re-UP: THE VANS X HARO COLLAB. Inside info from Vans' Sr. Art Director Michael de Wit

Dec 03, 2014

Written by Bart de Jong

Read 13343 times

This week on FATBMX we've got an online competition* going on. We received a killer package from Vans with some products that go with the HARO x Vans collaboration. We caught up with Michael de Wit - Sr. Art Director at Vans, who was one of the persons working on the project. Read this first, and then look for the online competition here on FATBMX.

When did you first hear about the Vans x Haro collaboration?
MdW: When it comes to collaborations at Vans, all departments involved (footwear, apparel & brand design) work closely together to make sure it's the right one. We were looking to do collaboration with a company that shared the same amount of originality, heritage and authenticity like Vans, so Haro seemed like a natural fit. Besides, Dennis (McCoy) has been a Vans rider forever and when he got back on Haro, it was a perfect match.

When did you step in?
MdW: We mostly have skaters and surfers working at Vans, so due to my intense passion for BMX, I was part of the project from the very beginning.

What were some of your tasks/input on the project?
MdW: I took the initiative to keep everyone in check on doing the right thing, since this project was inspired by the 1985 Master Freestyler, I wanted to make sure everything was era correct. Making sure we picked the right colors, logo creation, as well as that it had to resonate with our younger consumer. Because at the end of it all, we still need to produce a product that sells.

How difficult was it to stay within a certain pricepoint with a project like this?
MdW: Very difficult on the bike side of things, me and John Buultjens worked very closely together for months to make sure we were able to recreate the bike as close as possible to the original. Trying to source parts that they stopped producing almost 30 years ago was not an easy task for John, but I think he managed to do a pretty damn good job on the final product.

Did you have any points of reference when building up the bike and/or doing the shoes?
MdW: We actually borrowed an original 1985 Master Freestyler from Haro, so we were able to get all the colors and logos as accurate as possible. On top of that we had some really good photos from Dennis (McCoy) when we was riding this bike in 1985.

How important are the details going into these old school projects?
MdW: Insanely important. Companies do reissues of old school products all the time, but sometimes seem to modernize it too much or simply not taking the time to make sure that colors and/or graphics are exactly like they were back in the day. For example, me and John even recreated the smallest imperfections on the frame/fork/bar decals that were featured on the original bike. The Vans x Haro Master Freestyler is probably 98% accurate to the original.

Does Vans' old school BMX history and Haro's freestyle history match up nicely in this collaboration?
MdW: Honestly it's perfect. Vans is the first shoe company to support BMX in 1979 and Haro was the first one to produce bikes specifically for Freestyle BMX. The fact that we share the same team rider now and back in 1985 (Dennis McCoy) was the cherry on top.

Since then, where have you seen the bike show up?
MdW: Right now just Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blogs and Ebay... Since we only produced 180 of these bikes, i would be surprised to see one rolling down the street, although it would be rad to spot someone doing cherry pickers on one in a random parking lot somewhere.

What was the coolest place you saw the shoes show up after they became available?
MdW: Your feet.

Any shout outs?
MdW: Without these people, this project would have not been possible. John Buultjens, Chris Raceles and Joe Hawk over at Haro. Jerry "Bad Boy" Badders, Vans' BMX team manager and Jon Warren, head footwear designer at Vans.

*Competition is closed

www.vans.com
www.harobikes.com