Vans Channels The Summer Of ’16 With The Old Skool “Roses”

August 2, 2026

The further 2016 slips into the rearview, the more it takes on an almost mythological quality. For a generation that came of age before the world began feeling quite so relentlessly heavy, that summer is remembered as one last stretch of uncomplicated fun, especially for those who spent it in high school or college. Pokémon GO emptied people out of their bedrooms, EDM and SoundCloud rap supplied an inescapable soundtrack, Vine was still thriving, and so on. As the familiar refrain goes, you simply had to be there.

The Summer of ’16 has been memeified for years, but its influence is beginning to extend beyond wistful posts and hyper-specific internet jokes. Fashion, forever eager to mine the recent past, has started cautiously revisiting some of the era’s defining motifs, serving them back to consumers as concentrated doses of nostalgia. This latest Vans Old Skool fits neatly into that movement. The shoe sports a classic black-and-white colorway with stitched rose graphics beneath the Jazz Stripe on the lateral side. Anyone who was remotely tuned into streetwear in 2016 will immediately recognize the reference. Embroidered roses appeared everywhere, most memorably on the dad caps that became practically unavoidable that year.

Those looking to bring a little Summer of ’16 nostalgia back into their rotation can find the Vans Old Skool “Roses” available now through Vans for $80. See official images below, followed by purchase links leading directly to the product page.