First, a thank you
At the tail end of 2023, Dime MTL collaborated with Vans and in doing so, brought back Geoff Rowley’s second-ever signature shoe with Vans, the Rowley XLT. Thanks Dime!
Originally released in 2001, the XLT was Vans’ entry back into the cup sole skate shoe market, and with the help of Rowley’s huge following back then, the XLT quickly became a very sought-after silhouette. Since then, Vans have taken things into their own hands by releasing their own colourways of the now iconic XLT. This spring we have been lucky enough to be able to get our hands on the newest colourway to come out of the Vans camp, the fantastic Black/Chilli Pepper!
Before we go straight into the nitty-gritty of the shoe, let’s first delve into a quick history of who Geoff Rowley is, because let’s face it, his aggressive, gnarly skating and gigantic popularity during the time of the XLT’s initial release was a huge cause of this shoe becoming as well-loved as it is today.
Table of Contents
Who is Geoff Rowley?
Born in Liverpool on June 6th 1976, Geoff Rowley grew up on the mean streets of Merseyside and by the time he reached 13 years old, his passion for football took a back seat and luckily for us all, skateboarding engulfed his life.
By the early ’90s, Geoff had found himself on Deathbox skateboards, and I believe he was also on Airwalk during the beginning of his career. Then in 1994, Geoff left for the US with Deathbox (now Flip Skateboards) owners, Ian Deacon and Jeremy Fox. This is where Geoff would gradually find himself becoming a legend within the skateboard industry.
It wasn’t long until Geoff met Ed Templeton, someone Geoff holds in incredibly high regard. Ed could look past the angry-looking kid and saw the raw potential that Geoff was oozing at the time. They skated a lot together during this period, pushing each other and the boundaries of skateboarding at the time. It didn’t take long for both to eventually become huge names within the industry and solidify themselves as two of the very best to do it.
Ed and Geoff were both outside of what was going on fashion-wise during that time, hip-hop was huge and baggy pants and small wheels were the style but neither of the two bought into it. They skated the way they wanted to and dressed like the musicians they were into, not what they were told to like. They were original dudes, and that’s why they are still absolutely adored to this day.
Leaving Airwalk for Vans
By 1998, Geoff found himself leaving Airwalk and joining the Vans team. In fact, Geoff joined Vans despite it meaning he would have to take a 50% pay cut!
For Geoff, pay was not the priority at all, the way the shoes skated as well as possessing his own creative freedom within the brand came above everything else. His initial deal with Vans was a pro-shoe (designed by himself) to come out every year over the first three years. By the end of 1999 his first shoe was released, and in his own words describes his first shoe as, “the perfect vulcanized shoe for me, I made it for me selfishly”.
The birth of the Vans XLT
Even though he designed the shoe for his specific requirements, it was a huge success. However, as great as that initial success was, it must be hard to figure out what to design after you have just released your ‘perfect’ skate shoe. So why not take a totally different approach? In an interview with Monster Children, Geoff states:
We set the DNA on my first shoe, so doing the second shoe was a lot easier. People liked the side stripes and the little OTW logos so I knew what I wanted to put in the shoe. It needed all the original DNA and it just needed to not be a vulcanized shoe that was for everyone that skated, not just your core gnarly skater. That was kind of the mindset behind it.
It was a genius move when you think about it. Geoff had ticked the box for the perfect vulc shoe with his first shoe, which gathered a lot of love from the core skaters of the time, so why not use the same design blueprint but make the shoe far more accessible for the wider world of skateboarding?
The silhouette of the XLT suited a much broader range of styles and was much more comfortable being a lightweight cupsole design with plenty of padding. These were even advertised on billboards around the west coast, and even on MTV and in Rolling Stone Magazine. This shoe transcended skateboarding in a way.
Sorry, not sorry
As mentioned before, the XLT was released in 2001 and as every skateboarder should know, Flip – Sorry came out in 2002.
Rowley was very well established by this point, even earning himself the Thrasher SOTY title in 2000, but when Flip – Sorry came out, everyone in that video became gods amongst men.
The footage of Rowley doing the infamous 50-50 down the Staples Centre hubba (which was shot in 1999) finally came out as well as a full 6 minutes of insanity from the rest of his part, which blew every kid’s mind watching it.
When you watch Rowley’s part in Sorry you can actually see him wearing all three of his shoes that were released or going to be released during that time. For those of you who are reading this below the age of 20… skate videos took years to create back then, and if Geoff was releasing a shoe a year, it was inevitable that all of those shoes would appear in the video.
Vans must have been hyped, basically, every type of skate shoe they had available, be it thin vulc or their new bulkier cup soles were being worn by one of the biggest names in skating in one part! From there on out Geoff Rowley just became more and more popular, forever pushing the boundaries of skateboarding, releasing amazing ads, punching Phelps in the face (RIP), being friends with Lemmy (RIP) and helping design rad products, basically cementing him into being a true legend (or perhaps rock star) of skateboarding.
Now, let’s talk about the XLT reissue
I know I’ve kind of talked about the XLT already, but let’s have a proper look at what Vans has done with this reissue…
Essentially, nothing. I mean that in a good way though!
Every now and then a reissued product will come out and a key feature of the original will be slightly different or even totally removed. Vans has decided to keep it almost exactly the same, even down to the insole! The only thing I can see being a modern addition are the tongue straps. But that is what you want with a reissue, right? If I’m buying a shoe out of my childhood nostalgia, I want to experience exactly what I was skating during that time, not some redefined version that has no soul.
So what tech is actually in this shoe? Well, aside from all the padding, the shoe does have a classic Vans waffle cut cupsole unit, a lightweight cut & buff EVA midsole for a lightweight feel with impact protection as well as the Rowley stabilising heel clip. I’m not sure if it is called the Rowley heel clip because he was the first to use something like that or if it is just because it has his name physically on it. Either way, it helps stabilise your heel. As I said earlier, you won’t see any Popcush technology or any of the new Vans tech, but at the end of the day it is a well-cushioned cup-sole shoe. Regardless of what modern tech is in it, it’ll skate just fine. If Geoff can fs flip a river in them, I’m sure we regular folk will get on just fine. Remember, this was the shoe that came out to effectively be the forgiving version of the gnarly vulc shoe, and that it was!
It’s a strange time in skateboarding at the moment. Vans who are very well known for classic silhouettes originating from all the way back in the ’70s, are now reissuing styles from the early 2000’s. Perhaps “strange” is the wrong way to put it, skateboarding is now so old, that reissues from the 2000s really do feel ‘vintage’. As much as that makes you feel old (it sure does for me), you can never complain about legends such as Geoff Rowley getting some well-deserved attention again, and when you read through the skate forums and comments on social media, so many skaters that were kids when this shoe was first released are so hyped to see this much-loved silhouette stocked in their skate shop again. That’s rad!
Maybe, just maybe, we will be seeing the XL3 within the next few years too? Let’s hope so.
If you have got this far, then is it fair to assume you want more? If yes, Jenkem Mag has done a great job of collating a lot of Geoff’s old footage in an ‘Ode to Geoff Rowley’… Slip that kettle on and get stuck in!
