Vans

Vans needs no introduction to Skateboarding. The American company was born in Anaheim, California in 1966. It was started by the Van Doren brothers and initially traded as the Van Doren Rubber Company. They famously made canvas, rubber, vulcanized deck shoes, which later in the 1970's were picked up by skateboarders such as Tony Alva and the Dogtown and Z-Boys crew in Venice, Los Angeles. This was the Vans Era and Vans Authentic, which has everything a skateboarder needed in their footwear. Simple and stylish. This is where Vans met skateboarding and they've been connected ever since.

Vans Off The Wall went on to dominate skateboarding footwear creating many American classics such as the Vans Sk8-Hi, Vans Old Skool, Vans Slip-on, Vans Chukka, Vans Full Cab and the Vans Checkerboard. This was the signature shoe of professional skateboarder Steve Caballero. It was lowered in 1992 to become the iconic and timeless Vans Half Cab, which is still one of the most loved and celebrated shoes in skateboarding.

Almost all professional skateboarders have worn Vans or have been sponsored by Vans at some point. They have famously had signature shoe models from Elijah Berle, Jim Greco, Geoff Rowley, Dustin Dollin, Steve Caballero, Tony Alva, Salman Agah and Mike Carroll. More recently Kyle Walker, Anthony Van Engelen, Gilbert Crockett and Chima Ferguson have Vans signature models. Today the Vans Elijah Berle, Vans Gilbert Crockett Pro, Vans Kyle Walker Pro and Vans Chima Ferguson Pro, all come with various Vans technologies such as the Duracap, UltraCush and Wafflecup, which is an updated skate-ready version of their original Vans Waffle outsole.

Vans also have a presence in surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross and continue to put on the Vans Warped Tour in various parts of the world. They also run the House of Vans, which is space encapsulating all that Vans is about, skate, music and art. House of Vans is located in New York City, Detroit, Chicago and London.