DEFCON may not be a household name, but they have been integral to the Vans Syndicate line since its inception in 2005 to its last release in 2015. 

Staying out of the community's eyes and under the radar, they concentrated on their own heartfelt passions and let their projects and reputation represent them. Throughout the years, DEFCON have had Syndicate releases without a name attached, being the first to utilise proper camo outside of military application, they developed an authentic approach to military inspired design in their products.

Each release and design was a reflection and reaction, based on current innovations or conflicts, incorporating proper milspec issue technologies. For the second Vans Syndicate camo pack, DEFCON tapped Crye Precision, the developers of MultiCam®, using the most advanced pattern developed at the time for special operations forces. DEFCON continued this affiliation with Crye Precision in 2010 and revealed their personal relationship within military and elite law enforcement, releasing a DEVGRU MultiCam® shoe, the group also known as SEAL Team 6 of the United States Navy. This level of detail and authenticity is what DEFCON GROUP strives to achieve in all their projects and has proven so, with the aftermarket for each of their releases reaching collectors prices.

In 2017, DEFCON and Vans come together as collaborators, working with Crye Precision once again, to create a SK8-Hi Notchback Pro model in 3 different colours using MultiCam®'s newest patterns. 

Below SUPPLY asked Berto Liechty a few questions about DEFCON's latest Vans release...

 

DEFCON have been involved with Vans since the very beginning, can you please explain how that started? 

DEFCON started out as a few bros who would help each other out with work projects because we neeeded each others skills and support in order to pull it off and to compete with well established alternates be it photography, video, or design work. This is how we got well rounded at it all and would later be beneficial because we could do it all in house at a pretty high level. After working with Vans to create Syndicate, we evolved into DEFCON GROUP, allowing us to brand our work. At some point I think it just made sense for Vans and DEFCON to partner on a project from the outside in as opposed to the inside out.

 

 

Since the first DEFCON Vans shoe, you have continued working with camo as a main element. From what I know, you were the first to use proper camo outside of military application. What was the original inspiration and how receptive were Crye Precision in the idea of working with the collaboration? 

The original inspiration for the DEFCON Vans comes from camouflage being used completely wrong by many brands and designers. For example shoes have a small canvas so designers tend to feel the need to shrink the camouflage pattern in order to get more pattern on the shoe. The reason that looks like dog shit is because the pattern becomes unfamiliar to our eyes when shrunk down, but more importantly the camouflage is ineffective in its original intentions and should be used in the way it was designed and tested. You don't see a piece of kit like a magazine or communications pouch that is only 4 inches wide shrinking the camo pattern to fit the application. When we started to do the camo series with Syndicate, we were adamant about setting the record straight with our first series. After that we of course had our eyes set on a camouflage pattern that was in development by Crye Precision which would later be known as Multicam®. Multicam® was pretty ground breaking at the time. DEFCON was still fairly unknown at the time and we reach out to Crye through one of our friends at Naval Special Warfare to get us in contact. The crew at Crye were super cool, and a bunch of them told us they used to skate in Vans so the project developed from there rather seamlessly. We were the first commercial brand that wasn't military or outdoor to use Multicam so it was pretty early on. Since that time a lot has happened and DEFCON evolved into a serious group working with different manufactuers and Multicam evolved with some new patterns so it made sense to come full circle and work with them again.

 

 

From the Warrior Suede, to the DRI-LEX™ lining, to the reversed waffle sole, the details are insane. Have any of the releases been tested in the field?  

All DEFCON release have been field tested. Initially we developed the shoe to have backing and support for skateboarding, with added tooling for light range use as well. We wanted one shoe to handle both and we got away with it pretty good. Vans was very supportive in getting shoes out to our friends in the Teams and that was cool to see guys decked out in full kit with DEFCON Vans. What surprised is how much work those shoes got from those boys. Full work ups, sky diving and much more in country that will never be told or see the light of day, but I can tell you we never imagined the shoes surviving that kind of use and abuse.

 

 

DEFCON Vans releases have become cult items and the aftermarket prices of the collaborations are at crazy amounts. Did you ever anticipate that?

We never anticipated the DEFCON projects to become cult items with insane aftermarket prices. We were at best just stoked to get the product right and hopefully put some shoes on the right people. After that it just kept getting crazier. It was just like that old days when a few true heads were up on something and the sleepers made all the noise. It just never seemed to stop, people buying and selling for hundreds of dollars on eBay and shitty bootlegs going for the same price. We realized at some point that we were speaking to a larger audience than we initially though. We put a lot of hard work into the product and Vans puts up with a lot of our shit to get it right. We're just stoked and the support is greatly appreciated. 

 

 

The Vans SK8-Hi has become a bit of a mainstay for the DEFCON collaborations, is this the best silhouette ? 

Not exactly. We still wanted the same benefits of dual purpose, and we upped the ante a bit this round, but thats not to say we didn't test the waters with other silhouettes, but in the end we couldn't get them as close to 100% as we would have liked to. No matter what when you want something accomplished or completed at a high level, you almost never get it at 100. You can get close, real close, but if you're truly reaching for the top its hard to get it to 100% without unlimited time. 

 

 

Photos by: Atiba Jefferson & DEFCON

Words: Anthony Kwang