Pump up the volume: How did Vans become a global shoe brand?

Tag : slip-on shoe


Steve Van Doren admits that he owes his company's success, in part,to a lucky break. Twenty-five years ago, some bored high-school kidstarted drawing lines on his canvas, rubber-soled shoes andcolouring in the squares. One of Van Doren's employees saw thedesign and suggested the company run up similar fabric. Then camethe lucky part: a production company was looking for shoes for FastTimes at Ridgemont High, a teen movie starring an up-and-comingyoung actor called Sean Penn. "And suddenly it was a phenomenon,"says Van Doren. "We made them in every colour and every combinationwe could think of..."
The style became known as the Checkerboard. And it's a phenomenonagain: adopted by rock stars (Iron Maiden, the Foo Fighters andmore recently, the Ting Tings), art-student alternatives andmiddle-youth creatives, the slip-on sneaker born out of Californianskate culture is selling out everywhere. Not bad for a model thatcould have been worn at almost any time over the last four decades.
The company behind the sneaker is a little over 40 years old. VanDoren is the son of Paul Van Doren, founder of Vans, a brand thatis arguably the progenitor of sneaker culture – theobsessive, nerdy knowledge of training shoes – and oneundergoing something of a renaissance; its sales have doubled overthe last three years.
"I remember painting and helping to open up the first store,passing out flyers door-to-door, making shoes all through summervacation and getting paid with 50 one-dollar bills, which then feltlike more money than god," says Steve Van Doren, the brand'sself-titled Ambassador of Fun, whose daughter has also worked forthe company since school age. "My dad knew I wanted to have mywallet feel thick..."
That first brush with Hollywood was not lost on Van Doren. When heheard that Samuel L Jackson was a fan and was making some movieabout – so the grapevine said – snakes on a plane, hehad Vans' art department custom-make a themed pair and send them tothe film studio. "And the next thing you know, on David Letterman,on Jay Leno, on the front pages, Jackson is wearing themeverywhere," says Van Doren. Hearing that Julia Roberts was in townfilming, he learnt that her first job was in a shoe shop, so senther a pair, along with roses and chocolates. She wore them in hernext two movies.
What began as a mom-and-pop operation – Paul Van Doren workedfor a shoe firm for 20 years before launching his own brand, whichhe sold to just 50 local stores – has become a $870m(£435m) company. But Steve Van Doren stresses that its MO hasnot changed since it was founded in 1966, and soon became the shoeof choice for skateboard pioneers. Granted, there was the time ittried to become the shoe of choice for wrestlers, skydivers andbreak-dancers, and almost went bankrupt. "So now we stick with justbeing a cool, native southern Californian youth-culture brand.California is the home of action sports and if we were as bigaround the globe as we are there, we'd be the biggest shoe brand inthe world," says Van Doren, wearing a Hawaiian shirt, denims and,of course, the family firm's product.
Vans' current glory moment is the product of both its broad reachand fashion turning in its favour. Its classic styles are inkeeping with a move away from the all-whistles-and-bells hi-techtrainer in favour of a stripped-down pump, creating a market thatVans dominates with the likes of Converse, and leaving the sportsgoods giants scrambling to produce their own versions.
"Retro comes back, and business is phenomenal. It's all what weused to do years ago – basic footwear with vulcanised rubbersoles, an easy price for an easy look that anyone can wear, thatyou can chuck in the washer," says Van Doren. "Economics has a lotto do with it, too: how many pairs of $150 trainers can you afford,what with the price of food and gas going up? But more than that,there is a desire to go back to basics, not to have a special treadthere and an air pocket here. Sometimes, fashion just goes back toblack and white, to that simplicity. Next up is neon – youwait, I've been telling everyone."
Skateboarding fashion has entered the mainstream: the combattrouser, hoodie and wallet chain, the beanie and trucker cap, theoutsize T-shirt and super-baggy jeans are street trends in theirown right, each finding its origin in a skate park somewhere, eachinvariably accompanied by a pair of Vans. Yet it is not the turn offashion's screw alone that has made Vans a pop-cultural phenomenon,as much as its close links with its core audience of 12- to18-year-olds and the skate and action-sports world that defines theway they dress.
They may lack the guaranteed weather of the Sunshine State, butvisit NASS (the skate/BMX music festival), Waterstock (thewakeboarding music festival) or Boardmasters (the surf/skate musicfestival) across the UK this summer and there Vans will be, assponsors and on the feet of punters and professionals alike. Theseare the people to whom the likes of Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta,ground-breaking skateboarders who adopted the Era, skateboarding'sfirst shoe back in 1976, and Steve Caballero, for whom Vansdesigned the first signature skate shoe, are nothing less thangods.
"It's really the trend-setting kids that tell us what we have tobe, when they go to school and watch what each other is wearing,"says Van Doren. "Some brands are just associated with certainlifestyles. We're more West Coast than East Coast, which has tendedto be strong for Converse. We're more solo sports than we are teamsports, which the big athletics brands like Nike tap in to. We'remore rock and punk than we are hip-hop, which other brands, again,tap in to. But what we certainly are is skateboarding."
This bodes well – not just because skateboarding has becomean Olympic sport or because next year, the 50th anniversary of theRoller Derby Skateboard, the first mass-market skateboard, is boundto renew interest in the sport. But because skate style,increasingly ageless and easy to wear, is so pervasive. As VanDoren puts it, when your product becomes part of the furniture foran audience to whom provenance, grip, cushioning and good looks areimportant, "it all becomes more than a question of fashion".
"After all, a lot of the styles we make have been around for a longtime now and they're still here and still selling. At the end ofthe day, it's just a good shoe – that's an ethos that goesback to my dad's emphasis on product quality. In fact, I'd say theunique thing about Vans is that if I was kid in the Seventies andmight now have children and my children have children, then allthree generations may be wearing Vans – the old fart like me,my daughter and, when she has them, her kids. It's a brand thatcrosses generations – people grow up wearing them and keepwith them."
Trainers: the classics
* Converse All Stars
These classic high-tops and sneakers are a favourite among indiekids and have been worn by rockers such as Kurt Cobain and TheStrokes.
Office.co.uk, £34.99
* Dunlop Green Flash
These vivid green trainers offer an instant nostalgia hit.
Shoestore.co.uk, £25.99
* Nike Air Max
After grunge, the fashion set swapped their Dr Martins and skateshoes for Air Max's comfort and style.
jdsports.co.uk, from £84.99
* Reebok Classics
Every teen in the late Eighties wanted a pair of Classics, but thistrainer has taken a bit of a nose-dive in popularity after itsassociations with un-savoury characters such as Little Britain'sVicky Pollard.
Reebok.com, £50
* Adidas Superstar (Shell Toe)
Popularised by skaters and rappers, the rubber-toed trainer isstill going strong.
Jdsports.co.uk, £54.99
Gemma Hayward
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