Vans announced a multi-year creative partnership with SZA, appointing her as Artistic Director. She will guide upcoming campaigns and design exclusive product collections that reflect her creative vision and the brand’s youthful energy.
The collaboration opens with an original brand anthem centered on the idea of becoming. The first campaign, directed and photographed by Sophie Jones with styling by Alejandra Hernandez, presents a dreamlike narrative of vulnerability, self-reflection, art, and style. It features the Knu Skool in Black/White, a silhouette SZA has long worn. Introduced in 1997 as a modern take on the Old Skool™, the Knu Skool draws from skateboarding design and includes a padded tongue, a three-dimensional Sidestripe, and oversized laces.
SZA describes her connection to Vans as natural, rooted in years of wearing the brand’s shoes and sharing its values of joy, community, creativity, and fashion as interconnected forces. She frames curiosity and bravery as daily practices, inviting audiences to engage with Vans in that same spirit.
Her appointment comes during a career marked by both artistic and commercial impact. She has earned five Grammy Awards, eight Billboard Music Awards, eight BET Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, and three American Music Awards. Her debut album Ctrl reached 5x Platinum with RIAA and featured the Diamond-certified hit “Love Galore.” SOS, her second album, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, stayed there for thirteen non-consecutive weeks, achieved 8x Platinum status, and set a record with 117 weeks at No. 1 on the Top R&B Albums chart. Her songs have amassed over 70 billion streams globally, and her recent Grand National Tour with Kendrick Lamar became the most successful duo tour in history. In 2025, she also made her film debut in the comedy One of Them Days, which opened at No. 1 at the box office.
Vans frames this partnership as the start of an ongoing creative dialogue. With SZA shaping both visuals and product, the brand sets the stage for future collections and campaigns that carry her artistic signature and her ability to connect music, culture, and style.
