where it all started

THE VAN DOREN RUBBER COMPANY -

Paul Van Doren was born in 1930 and grew up in the Boston Area. When he reached the eigth grade, he realized he didn't like school and promptly left. He had a passion for horses and at the age of 14 and a half made his way to the race track. He was known as 'Dutch the Clutch' and for a buck he would give you odds on the race. Paul’s mother couldn’t stand he wasn’t working or going to school. She dragged him into the shoe factory where she worked and got him a job making shoes and sweeping the factory floor.

This was to define the young Van Doren’s future.In twenty years, Paul worked his way up the ranks and became the Executive Vice President of Randy’s, a Boston based shoe manufacturer.

During the early sixties, Randy’s had become the third largest manufacturer of shoes in the US. But they had a factory in Gardenvale California that was losing a million dollars a month. Paul Van Doren, his brother Jim Van Doren and long time friend Gordon Lee were given the task of straightening out the factory, and after 8 months they turned the west coast factory around and it was doing better than the one back in Boston.

Three months later Paul Van Doren sat his five kids down and announced he was quitting his job to start a new shoe company.

Paul moved west to Southern California with his partners, Jim Van Doren, Gordy Lee and Serge D'Elia. The first official day of business was March 15, 1966, when the first Vans shoe store opened in Anaheim, California. The company was formed with Paul and Serge owning 40% each and Jim and Gordon owning 10% each. It took a year to set up the factory at 704 East Broadway in Anaheim. It was built from scratch using old machinery the bought from all over the USA.

They offered three styles of vans shoes on that first day, but had only made display shoes. The racks on the wall were stacked with empty boxes to help make it look like a shoe store. Twelve customers came into the Vans store that morning and picked out the style and color of shoes they wanted. But they didn't have any shoes in stock so Paul and Gordy asked the customers to come back in the afternoon to pick up their shoes.

They rushed back to the factory and made the shoes. When the customers returned in the afternoon to pick up their shoes, they needed change for their purchases. Paul and Gordy hadn't thought of this and didn't have any change available. So, they just gave them the shoes and asked them to come back the next day to pay for them. All 12 customers showed up the following day to pay for their shoes.

O� the wall was a saying that the skaters back in the mid 70s used to say when riding pools. They were coming O� The Wall! So Vans' �rst o�cial skateboarding shoe was on March 18th 1976 and had the O� the Wall newly created logo on it. Since then, all vulcanized skateshoes carried the red and white logo on the heel of our shoe. The skaters were allowed to customize their shoes in any color. We then put the O� the Wall Logo on all the crazy wild colored shoes as they were developed (such as the slip ons) and eventually the checkerboard shoes that came after Fast Times at Ridgemont High came out in 1982. Vans was a little bit di�erent and edgy and O� the Wall stuck as a corporate logo."

How did the custom making of shoes come about? steve van dorenIn the women’s area, a lady came in and said ‘that’s a nice pink but I really want a brighter pink’ and then she picked up the yellow shoe and said ‘that’s a nice yellow but it really is too light’. My dad thought to himself, for crying out loud I can’t a�ord to carry 5 di�erent colours of pink. So he said lady, ‘why don’t you get a piece of fabric, whatever colour pink you want, bring it back and I’ll make a shoe for you’. So it was almost the �rst day that they started charging extra to do a custom pair of shoes.

You can get custom shoes online and design them your self. There realy popular and theres no limit. Its amazing to have a pair of vans youve designed yourself and nobody else has.

Skateboarders who like Vans rugged make-up and sticky sole are seen sporting Vans all over Southern California in the early 1970s. In 1975, the Vans #95, known today as the Era was designed by Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta. With a padded collar and di�erent colour combinations the Era becomes the shoe of choice for a generation of skateboarders.

In 1979, Vans introduce the #44 shoe, and with the help of skateboarders and BMX riders the Vans Slip-On became all the rage in Southern California. By the end of the 1970s, Vans had 70 stores in California and sells through dealers both nationally and internationally.

Whats happend over the years?

VANS OPENED VANS #95 KNOWN AS THE ERA WAS DESIGNED BY TONY ALVA AND STACY PERALTACE .THIS ERA BECOMES THE SHOE OF CHOICE FOR A GENERATION OF SKATE BOARDERS

VANS EXPLODED ALL OVER CALIFORNIA #44 SHOE VANS SLIP ON BECAME ALL THE RAGE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

VANS BEGAN MANIFACTURING FOOTWEAR OVERSEAS

VANS OPEN THE FIRST OF ITS KIND A 46,000 SQUARE-FOOT INDOOR -OUT-DOOR VANS SKATE PARK AT THE BLOCK IN ORANGE COUNTY.

VANS WERE RECONGIZED BY FORBES ‘AMERICAS BEST SMALL COMPANIES’

VANS LAUNCHES WWW.VANS.COM

VANS CELEBRATES 40 YEARS AT THE HEART OF YOUTH CULTURE.