The BAPE x Vans Premium Knu Skool Is a Layer-by-Layer Build of Camo Canvas, Suede, and Shark-Teeth Rubber

Two colorways stack BAPE’s signature print and “STA” logo alongside the Knu Skool’s puffy 3D Sidestripe, ice Checkerboard sole, and custom Ape Head hardware.

Name: BAPE x Vans Premium Knu Skool
Colorway: Camo Green, Camo Black
SKU: VN000Z39W09, VN000Z3929B
MSRP: $150 USD
Release Date: July 15
Where to Buy: Vans

Vans and A Bathing Ape are releasing the Premium Knu Skool in two collaborative colorways on July 15, layering BAPE‘s camo print, “STA” logo, and shark-teeth detailing across a suede-and-canvas build of the reissued 1990s low-top silhouette.

The collaboration operates on a specific structural premise: rather than replacing the Knu Skool’s existing design vocabulary, BAPE’s codes are stacked directly alongside it. Both brands’ signature elements occupy the same shoe at the same time, and the interest is in watching them negotiate that shared surface.

The upper is where the two visual systems meet most directly. Suede overlays provide the shoe’s structural framework, covering the toe box, heel counter, and eyestay panels. Between those overlays, canvas panels printed in BAPE’s camo pattern fill the negative space, making the print visible through the gaps in the suede architecture rather than covering the shoe wholesale. The effect reads differently depending on the colorway. In “Camo Green,” the print carries the woodland-palette greens and browns that have defined BAPE’s camo since the pattern’s introduction. In “Camo Black,” the same camo geometry is rendered in a tonal black treatment, pushing the print into a more textural register where the pattern reads through surface variation rather than color contrast.

The lateral panel is the most densely layered zone on the shoe. The Knu Skool’s puffy 3D Sidestripe, a raised, foam-backed version of the classic Vans stripe, runs its usual diagonal path from heel to midfoot. Sitting alongside it, BAPE’s star-shaped “STA” logo occupies the same panel. On most co-branded footwear, one partner’s branding takes priority and the other recedes; here, both marks hold their ground on the same plane without one overriding the other.
Below the upper, the rubber sidewall carries its own layer of BAPE detailing. Shark-teeth graphics, one of the label’s most recognizable motifs drawn from its iconic full-zip hoodie designs, are molded directly into the rubber sidewall. The “A Bathing Ape” wordmark is also embedded into this sidewall band, giving the midsole zone a second tier of co-branding beneath the lateral panel’s Sidestripe and “STA” pairing.

The sole unit combines both brands’ signatures underfoot. An ice sole, translucent rather than opaque, carries Vans’ Checkerboard pattern pressed into the underside, visible through the clear rubber. Beneath that sits the waffle outsole tread pattern that Vans has used as its foundational grip texture since 1966.

Hardware details round out the build. A custom Ape Head lacekeeper sits on the wide laces, adding a third BAPE element to the external branding alongside the “STA” logo and sidewall graphics. The shoe retains the Premium Knu Skool’s oversized tongue, padded collar, and heel pulls, keeping the silhouette’s chunky proportions and ease-of-entry features intact beneath the collaborative surface treatment.