Travis Barker x Vans Old Skool Dues Paid 2 Drops June 18

Travis Barker’s second Vans Old Skool arrived on June 18, 2026 in white, and it landed pre-scuffed, which is the part worth arguing about. The first pair, from October 2025, was black. This one flips the blocking and ships already beaten up, with “Dues Paid” set across the toe in Old English lettering and barbed wire running the foxing. It retailed at $90 under style code VN000E9TCJ7, two numbers the original version of this post did not carry.

The Old Skool is the right shoe for this and not by accident. Vans introduced it in 1977, and by the brand’s own account on its Since ’66 history page it was Vans’ first skate shoe to carry the Sidestripe, a mark that started as a doodle by Paul Van Doren and was originally called the jazz stripe. That is a more specific claim than the one this post made before, which was that the Old Skool was merely one of the earliest skate shoes with a side stripe. Vans says it was theirs first. Nearly fifty years on it is the silhouette Vans hands to a collaborator when the point is durability and a recognizable outline rather than novelty, and the company’s name has been on the Warped Tour since the mid-1990s, which put the shoe in front of exactly the audience this release is aimed at. Vans’ own history page dates that sponsorship to 1995 while Wikipedia and Journeys both put the title sponsorship at 1996, so the year is not settled.

The white version is a full inversion of the first release rather than a recolor. Pre-scuffed white canvas gives the upper a worn-in look out of the box, black staining runs the laces, eyestays, side panels, heel and Sidestripe, and the barbed wire graphic wraps the sole. Whether it should be called “Dues Paid 2” is genuinely open. Vans’ own release material does not use that name, calling it the white follow-up rather than a numbered sequel, and the “Dues Paid 2” label traces to JustFreshKicks. Since “Dues Paid” is the phrase printed on the shoe itself, the naming is defensible either way, but Vans is not the source of it.

The interesting thing about this partnership is how late it is. Barker was born in Fontana, California in November 1975 and joined Blink-182 in 1998, and his documented footwear history runs through DC Shoes, not Vans. He also built Famous Stars and Straps in 1999 and has a long-running Zildjian relationship. So the childhood story Vans is selling here is real, and it also went unmonetized by Vans for roughly three decades. Barker’s own words on the release: “My first pair of shoes was a pair of Vans. Growing up in Fontana, I always connected the brand to skateboarding, BMX, and punk culture. Once I started seeing my idols wearing them too, it really sealed it for me.” That reads as sincere and it is still a first product deal, not a renewal. Vans spent the 2010s losing ground on exactly this kind of cultural signing, and a two-drop capsule with a musician who has genuinely worn the shoes since childhood is a cheap, correct way to start winning it back.

On price, $90 is close to unremarkable, and that is the point. The first Dues Paid pair went out at $85, so this is a five dollar step, and both numbers sit well under what a musician collaboration costs almost anywhere else in footwear right now. Vans priced this so a teenager can buy it, which is a decision the brand makes more often than it gets credit for, and it is a large part of why Old Skool collaborations tend to be worn rather than stored.

Release details, for the record. The white Travis Barker Old Skool released June 18, 2026 at $90, style code VN000E9TCJ7, through Vans.com, select Vans stores, Journeys.com and select Journeys stores. The first pair in the series released October 23, 2025 at $85 under VN000E9TMCG in black and white, and that one was far tighter, going out through Vans.com and a fifty-pair release at the Grove store rather than a national retail partner. For more of what Vans has done on this silhouette lately, the Old Skool 36 in Harris Tweed is a useful contrast in intent.

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Source: Justfreshkicks

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The Sneakers Team

The Sneakers Team is the editorial desk behind becausesneakers, founded and edited by Nick Engvall. Nick has spent more than two decades in the sneaker industry. He built the original Eastbay Blog, led the first dedicated sneaker team at Complex, ran the first UGC and seeding programs at Finish Line, was employee number nine at StockX, and served as Senior Director at Stadium Goods. He hosts the Sneaker History podcast, and his first book, Small Luxuries: Sneakers, arrives in October 2026 from Motorbooks. Release details on this site are checked against the brand's own product information before publication, and anything we cannot confirm is labelled rather than stated.

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