After a new pack of deconstructed "Inside Out" Vans made the rounds earlier this week, reports surfaced that the Off-White-like designs were in fact the handiwork of Virgil Abloh.
Rumors pinned the creation of the sneakers to the year 2013, just one year after Abloh's Off-White label was founded. According to the erroneous reports, Abloh's name was removed from the would-be collaboration due to his ties to Nike.
On the surface, it's understandable how these could pass as Off-White-related designs. The Sk8-Hi and Slip-On models feature many of the same details seen on Virgil's work with Nike including repositioned branding, unfinished seams and even Helvetica-like text in quotes. Further fueling the rumor is last year's purported Off-White x Vans collab, which never made it to retail.
Despite all of this, Abloh has confirmed with Sole Collector that he was not involved in the design of the Vans collection. "This is false," Abloh said.
Collaboration or not, this pack isn't having any trouble moving at retail, having already completely sold out from stockists including Canada's Haven.