Vans and Monster Children celebrate shoe collab with launch of ‘SOLEMATES’ short film

Monster Children and Vans have released ‘SOLEMATES’, a short film created with Australian filmmaker Ben Briand (repped by Collider) to celebrate the launch of two collaboration shoes – an Authentic Pro Mid and a Checkered Slip On Pro.

‘SOLEMATES’ explores the life and clumsy love of Jules and Dylan, a young couple who first meet at the skate park, and features cameo appearances by Vans Australia team members Harry Bryant, Holly Wawn and Digby Luxton. The two minute short film brings the shoes to life in an unexpected way and was inspired by Air’s beloved 1998 music video ‘All I Need’ by Mike Mills.

The two minute short film was directed by Briand whose award winning short films have screened at SXSW, BFI London Film Festival, Palm Springs Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival and voted Best Narrative Film on Vimeo. The project also features an etherial original score from composer Aska Matsumiya (A24’s AFTER YANG, Netflix’s BRUISED).

Since Monster Children was established 20 years ago, Vans and Monster Children have been collaborating to tell stories from within the worlds of surf, skate, music, and art.

Says Campbell Milligan, founder and creative director, Monster Children: “Launching collaboration shoes with Vans is definitely one of the highlights of our 20 year partnership, and to be able to create a special short film with our friend Ben Briand has been an added privilege. We’re really proud of the result and looking forward to sharing it.”

The Vans x Monster Children shoes are available April 11, 2024 at monsterchildren.com, and Vans retail and online stores.