Vans

Vans was founded in March 1966 by Paul Van Doren, his brother Jim Van Doren, Gordy Lee, and Serge D'Elia in Anaheim, California as the Van Doren Rubber Company. The factory floor was open to the public — customers could walk in, hand the workers a swatch of canvas, and have a custom pair of deck shoes made on the spot. The first day, twelve people bought shoes; this direct-to-consumer manufacturing model defined the brand for its first decade. The Authentic deck shoe (#44, 1966), the Era (#95, 1976), the Old Skool (#36, 1977, the first Vans with the side stripe), the Sk8-Hi (1978), and the Slip-On (#98, 1979, made famous by 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High') became the canonical Vans silhouettes. Skateboarders embraced Vans from the very beginning because the company would custom-make shoes to skater specifications; the brand subsequently became the foundational skate-shoe brand of the 1980s-90s, with team support for Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Steve Caballero, and dozens of other foundational skaters. Vans was acquired by VF Corporation in 2004 and is now VF's largest brand by revenue (~$4B annually). Production is heavily Asian, though the Costa Mesa flagship and the Vans House of Vans cultural venues maintain the original direct-to-customer ethos. Collaborations with Comme des Garçons, Supreme, WTAPS, Anti Social Social Club, Sandy Liang, and countless others have kept Vans culturally relevant through every cycle of streetwear's evolution.