On 8 October 2026, Vans released the second chapter of United Through Skateboarding, the Vans x Atiba Jefferson collaboration. We now have one of its most personal pieces in stock: the LX Authentic 44 in "Atiba Pink". The collection is built around the friendships Atiba has formed through skateboarding, photography, music, art and sport. The pink Authentic carries that idea literally, with one of his own photographs printed inside the shoe.
For anyone who grew up reading skate magazines, Atiba needs little introduction. As Tony Hawk once put it, people know him just by his first name. He grew up in Colorado Springs, where skateboarding led him to punk and hip hop. At 18 he moved to California, picking up his first assignments through his brother at Transworld and shooting skaters like Kareem Campbell, Keenan Milton and Tony Hawk himself.
Today he is a staff photographer at Thrasher, and he shot the Lakers through the Shaq and Kobe years. He has photographed more SLAM covers than anyone else and co-directed Monochrome, an ESPN documentary on the Black experience in skateboarding. In June 2024, a Paris retrospective gathered 25 years of his skate photography. That range, from the skatepark to the basketball court, the music video set and the gallery, is why his eye now shapes how Vans presents itself.
His story with Vans started long before any contract. As a teenager in Colorado, he put down a five-dollar deposit in 1990 for his first pair of Vans Chukka boots. In March 2024, Vans named him Brand Curator, asking him to refresh the way the label tells its skate history, starting with the Always Pushing campaign.
The first United Through Skateboarding collection followed on 25 September 2025. It featured artwork by his friend, the graffiti artist Haze, along with a Half Cab on a WaffleCup outsole. An Old Skool 36+ carried images of John Cardiel.
This second chapter widens the circle again. The Los Angeles artist Lauren Halsey drew the custom logo, and Atiba art-directed a campaign featuring Flea and team rider Rowan Zorilla. The AVE Rapid LX comes in a Lakers-inspired gold and the Rowan Z3 takes its blue from the Dodgers. The cargo hoodie even has a pocket sized for a point-and-shoot camera.
The pair we chose goes back to where Vans began, since the Authentic launched in 1966 as Style 44, the brand's very first shoe. Atiba picked the all-over pink himself. The insole carries his photograph of Arisa Trew landing a 540 at the final Vans Pool Party, and the custom logos on the upper are Lauren Halsey's work.
As part of the premium LX line, the shoe adds a removable Sola Foam ADC insole for all-day comfort. It also gets glossy sidewalls, a taller foxing tape and archive-inspired branding. It wears as easily with raw baggy denim and a white tee as it does with grey sweatpants.
We like this collaboration because it is a portrait of a community rather than a logo exercise. The pink Authentic puts a piece of Atiba's archive on the simplest, most original Vans silhouette. The Vans LX Authentic 44 "Atiba Pink" is available now on noirfonce.eu in EU sizes 39 to 45 at €99.99, while sizes last.
