Vans Authentic

The Authentic is the shoe Vans opened with in 1966, sold as the #44 deck shoe: a canvas upper, a few eyelets and the vulcanized waffle sole. Nothing about it was designed for skateboarding, but the grip and board feel of that sole made it the shoe of 1970s Southern California skaters.

It is still made almost unchanged and remains one of the most-skated shoes in the world, especially for skaters who want the thinnest sole they can get.