No, Fugazi did not collab with Vans

Since its formation in 1986, Fugazi has never sold official band merch. And so eyebrows were raised last week when skateboard shoe institution Vans announced a new collection with Fugazi, which also happens to be the name of a streetwear brand. 

The collaboration was announced on June 24 via an Instagram clip where Vans executive Steve Van Doren holds a slip-on shoe in one hand and what appears to be a trademark registration certificate in the other. “This is a Vans shoe; this is Fugazi,” Van Doren sneers over some vaguely punk-ish background music. “Get the picture?” The post was immediately met with some contempt, with Fugazi (band) frontman Ian MacKaye commenting from his Dischord Records account: “We have nothing to do with this to be clear.” 

Fugazi, the staunchly anti-consumerist hardcore punks who emerged from Washington, D.C.’s Revolution Summer frenzy, was highly inventive and influential—it was not, however, the first group to use the term “fugazi.” Some have argued that the word began as a Vietnam War-era military acronym meaning “fucked up, got ambushed, zipped in,” but it also has ties to Mafia slang, in which context it describes something that’s a fraud. (Fitting!) Beyond that, there are a few San Francisco-area family-owned businesses named Fugazi, and the streetwear brand—who, it’s worth noting, uses a lot of deep red à la the band’s 13 Songs album cover—came along in 2017.

After backlash to the Vans collaboration ensued, Van Doren issued an apology on Instagram over the weekend, writing: “Fugazi the Band and Fugazi the clothing Brand are not connected. I have deep respect for Ian MacKaye, his impact on music and his connection to Skateboarding. We spoke this morning and are looking at ways to support longtime skateboarders and giving back to the communities we both care deeply about.” As of now, it’s unclear if or when the collaboration is set to drop.

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