Vans Partners With Zabar's: The Collab You Didn't Know You Needed

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Beloved Upper West Side grocery store Zabar's and the longtime skateboarding shoe company Vans have teamed up. Two entities you would never guess to hear in the same sentence, but forces that recently came together to make what could be the most stylish summer shoe of the season.

And it is all for a good cause.

The recently released shoes are part of Vans "Foot The Bill" initiative, which "aims to assist the creative communities of our extended Vans Family across the country during this difficult time."

Vans teamed up with "New York Nico," who calls himself the "unofficial talent scout of New York City," and runs a popular Instagram account that highlights the many wonderful characters and places in the city.

Nico, whose full name is Nicolas Heller, nominated three staples of Manhattan business to collaborate with Vans, the popular dim sum restaurant Nom Wah, the iconic Casa Magazines store, and the Upper West Side's very own Zabar's.

The specially designed Zabar's shoe is a New York City test all on its own, as people not from the five boroughs might struggle to name each food and beverage item drawn onto the footwear.

"Our design was inspired by some of our most beloved products, bagels, smoked salmon, cheese, rugelach, and the iconic black and white cookie," owners of Zabar's wrote on the Vans website. "We chose orange and white, both as a reference to our traditional color scheme and because they are reminiscent of salmon on our cream cheese!"

Zabar's also has charitable plans for any money that gets raised through purchases of the special shoes, and shirts (Yes there are also shirts!).

"We plan to use all proceeds from Foot the Bill to increase our support of local food banks and food rescue organizations. Economic instability brought on by the pandemic means that an increasing number of people rely on these programs to put food on the table and we feel that supporting their efforts is more important now than ever," Zabar's owners added.

Zabar's released a "Small-Business Story" along with the shoe debut.

You can check out the Zabar's and Vans collaboration shoe for yourself here, and the shirt here.

Zabar's is located at 2245 Broadway.