Sole Food

Jose Garces Designs Custom Kicks For Vans

The Garces designed Vans
The Garces designed Vans Photo: Courtesy Vans

Mario Batali has his orange rubber clogs, Morimoto has his knives, and Eric Ripert and Anthony Bourdain have their Good & Evil chocolate bar. Not to be outdone, Jose Garces now has his own sneakers. A rep for the Iron Chef tells us he was recently tapped by Vans to design a pair of kicks for its Custom Culture Program, a design competition. The program challenges high school students all across the US to turn its shoes into original works of art to highlight the importance and give a boost to arts education. Each year the shoe makers award $50,000 to one winning student’s school. Garces was chosen as one of the ambassadors for this year’s competition, and he lent his own design skills in the form of a pair of Vans tricked out with Jarritos bottle caps to resemble his Guapos Tacos food truck. The shoes will be shown in the competition’s Grand Championship Finals.

Jose Garces Designs Custom Kicks For Vans