VANS X KPOP DEMON HUNTERS GOLDEN COLLECTION DROPS TODAY

$75 buys a kids size Old Skool with a gold star studded upper and HUNTR/X printed on the tongue. Vans and Netflix built the pair for K Pop Demon Hunters Golden Collection, the second collaboration between the shoe brand and the animated film, and it hits stores today, July 17, with an online release following July 20.

The first KPDH x Vans run launched last holiday season. This one leans further into the film, pulling HUNTR/X, the trio at the center of the story, onto the Old Skool, and putting Derpy Tiger on a Slip On. A sequel collection usually means the studio trusts the sales numbers from round one enough to fund round two.

$75 for a Kids Old Skool With HUNTR/X on the Tongue

The grade school Old Skool retails for $75, built on Vans' usual canvas and suede upper with the brand's signature sidestripe. This pair swaps the standard black stripe for a gold, star studded panel with white contrast trim, and the HUNTR/X logo lands on the tongue where a Vans off the wall patch normally sits.

Black laces and a black sidestripe hold the gold panel in place, keeping the shoe wearable outside a costume closet. That restraint matters more than the glitter. Kids collabs live or die on whether a parent will actually let the shoe leave the house for school, and a black base under gold detailing clears that bar.

Derpy Tiger Gets the Slip On Treatment

Derpy Tiger, one of the film's companion characters, gets its own colorway on the Slip On rather than sharing the Old Skool with HUNTR/X. Splitting the two characters across two silhouettes doubles the shelf space and gives a kid two different price points to choose between instead of one.

Vans ran a similar skate silhouette play with Y3's Nisi on Mark Gonzales in Paris earlier this month, proof the brand is treating its archive shapes as a toolkit right now, not just a back catalog. The Old Skool carries the lead character. The Slip On carries the sidekick. That is a licensing decision as much as a design one.

This Is the Second Collab, Not the First

K Pop Demon Hunters and Vans already ran one collection together last holiday season, before this Golden Collection existed. A second collab inside seven months signals the franchise, not the shoe, is the reason this keeps happening.

The film gives Vans a reason to move fast. K Pop Demon Hunters passed 500 million views on Netflix since its June 2025 premiere, making it the most watched title, film or series, the platform has ever released, and its soundtrack landed four songs in the Billboard Hot 100 top 10 at the same time. A licensing partner does not wait a full year to follow up on numbers like that.

Netflix has been mining Korean pop culture for merchandise all year, the same instinct behind Vandy the Pink's Cup Noodle candle tapping into the same K culture wave from a completely different category. A streaming hit turning into a second sneaker run in under a year is a faster loop than most studios manage with box office films, let alone an animated one.

Grade School Sizing Only, For Now

The Golden Collection ships in grade school, preschool, and toddler sizes, priced at $75, $60, and $55. There is no adult sizing in this release, which keeps the collection squarely a kids and collector item rather than a general release sneaker.

That sizing choice also means resale demand, if it shows up, will concentrate in preschool and toddler sizes parents cannot always find in store. A gold star Old Skool that never scales past kids sizing stays a niche collectible instead of a mainline Vans release, and that is by design.

Buy It for the Kid, Not the Hype

Buy this one if there is an actual K Pop Demon Hunters fan in the house. The construction is standard Old Skool canvas and suede, nothing about the build justifies a resale chase, and the price ladder tops out at $75 for a shoe a growing foot will outgrow within a year.

Vans and Netflix are two collaborations into this franchise in under seven months, and the character split across two silhouettes says a third run is a matter of when, not if.