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Seems like Vans' philosophy on pro models is that if they're going to give you one, they want to give you more in the years that follow. Reynolds probably doesn't have much time left as a full time pro skater, so there isn't a long-term brand to be built around Reynolds pro models the way there may be around Rowan or Berle, who are the most recent people to get their first Vans pro models, and probably have many years as pro skaters left. Anyone on the back end of their skate career who has a pro model (AVE and Caballero) has been there a long time and had a few previous Vans pro shoes. Not that Reynolds doesn't deserve a pro model, but giving him one wouldn't really fit in with how Vans normally gives out pro models. For the same reason, I would think Tony Hawk isn't getting one either, even though he obviously has more name recognition than like Chima Ferguson.
but they keep making TNT shoes/colorways?
That's exactly what I mean - I don't care for TNT at all, but he's been on Vans forever, and had a pile of previous pro models on Vans (some of which sold very well), so he gets pro models. Or at least
got pro models - I'd be surprised if he gets another one. If TNT had spent his whole career on Emerica, then got on Vans last year; he wouldn't get a pro model now. Not to say TNT is equivalent to Reynolds, but their status in the Vans hierarchy is different.
TNT got his first pro model when he was young, then stayed on Vans and stayed productive/relevant for a long time, so he got more. Seems like the guys with pro models on Vans right now all follow a trajectory along those lines, and are just at various stages of it:
1) Skaters just entering their prime who recently got their first pro model (Berle, Rowan)
2) More established skaters who still have some gas in the tank and are now on their second or third pro model (Chima, Kyle Walker, Crockett)
3) Skaters who have been on forever and had a whole bunch of pro models (AVE, Rowley, TNT, Cab)
Whether or not Reynolds deserves it is a separate debate; I'm just saying I don't see it happening because it doesn't fit the way Vans usually decides who gets a pro model. Outside of AVE, there is nobody with a Vans pro shoe who had a long tenure or a pro model on another shoe brand that I'm aware of.