Vans Shoes and Vans Trainers

In Anaheim, California on 16th March 1966, Paul Van Doren, together with three friends opened their first shoe shop. That was the start of the 'Van Doren Rubber Company' which later became the Vans brand. It was the first company to manufacture shoes and sell them direct to the customer. 12 customers purchased a pair of Vans mens shoes on that first day. Due to their immense popularity with skateboarders and BMX riders, the Vans Slip-On became all the rage in Southern California and by the end of the '70s, Vans shoes had 70 shops across California and were even selling internationally.

In 2001 Vans backed Stacy Peralta's film venture, which looked at the very origins of skateboarding and its early personalities. That same year, Vans bought into the music festival 'Warped Tour', the USA's foremost music and action sports event. This eventually came to be America's longest running concert series and went on to draw crowds of over 680,000. In 2004 Vans launched Vans Customs and in 2006, the brand celebrated its 40th birthday - now more popular than ever. Vans have been responsible for staging what many consider to be the best skateboarding events in the USA and continue to push the design boundaries with their Vans trainers and Vans mens shoes. Vans are worn by women as well as men and are widely recognised as one of the best brands of skateboarding shoes in the world.