crooked tongues magazine News Features

Hot on the heels of the California line's Switchback model, the Vans OTW Alomar offers a smoothed-out alternative. We're sure this was originally sold in under the Westin name (there seems to be a few OTW releases that never made production - the Mountain Edition styled Bigelow was a good shoe too - maybe it'll resurface at some point later down the line), but we're feeling it. After the high-end folks ate off Vans design cues, and the Skytop shifts major units, if figures that Vans should target a new market formed of clued-up kids, devotees of skate culture who don't skate, the into-it feigning over-it folk and those hunting something that's nonsense-free but offering a comforting familiarity with some heritage design cues. The Alomar fills those criterias in a remarkably subtle way.

For a brand famed for vulc, Vans can work the cup sole pretty efficiently when they want to - this is, effectively a Chukka high - that might be an oxymoron, because the chukka is, by nature, a mid-cut, but you get the idea. The OTW heel branding looks good, when patent enters the mix it stays subdued and the materials -got to love thosr suedes and leathers - are impeccable given the reasonable pricepoint. White is a little too crispy clean for our personal tastes, but the blue, black and deep blue variations are great. Workboot-themed shoes are an epidemic in 2010, but that brown Alomar feels genuinely premium and does it better than most. Go check our interview with the man behind the collection, Tom Cooke right here, and this model hits the Crooked Tongues store alongside other OTW pieces in July...