Paul Van Doren, his brother James, and Gordon C. Lee opened the first Vans store under the name The Van Doren Rubber Company on March 16, 1966, at 704 East Broadway in Anaheim, California.[4] The business manufactured shoes and sold them directly to the public. On that first morning, 12 customers purchased Vans deck shoes, which are now known as “Authentic” and share a similar design to those manufactured by Keds and other brands but with a thicker sole. The company displayed three styles of shoes, which were priced between US$2.49 and US$4.99, but on opening day, the company had only manufactured display models without any inventory ready to sell. On opening day, Paul Van Doren did not have enough change to give customers, so he told them they could take the shoes home and just come back the next day to pay. The following day, all the customers came back to pay.[5]
The original version of the Vans skateboard logo was designed in Costa Mesa, California, in the 1970s by Mark Van Doren at the age of 13, the son of then-President and co-owner James Van Doren. Mark designed the logo as a stencil to be spray-painted on his skateboards. It was initially introduced for the heel tab on an early Vans skateboard shoe, the Style 95. After his son’s interest in skateboarding, James decided to manufacture skateboarding shoes.[6]
In 1976, the “Off The Wall” logo made its debut. This motto was a slang phrase used by skateboarders doing tricks in empty pools. Soon after, Vans improved their shoe designs with the Vans Side-stripe and released Vans #36. This has become known as the “Old Skool” design.[6][7]
In 1984, even though the company had gained some popularity, it faced heavy competition in the market, and knock-off copies of its products were being sold. This made the company lower their prices, which eventually resulted in Vans filing for bankruptcy protection.[6] In 1988, Van Doren and Lee sold the Vans company to the banking firm McCown De Leeuw & Co. for US$74.4 million. In 1989, many manufacturers of counterfeit Vans shoes were apprehended by U.S. and Mexican officials and ordered to cease production and Jasper Lutwama and Aidan Vryenhoek decided to revamp the company and revitalize the vision and ethics of Vans.[5]
