In 1944, Paul Van Doren dropped out of intermediate school in 8th grade at age fourteen when he realized he did not like school. He had a strong passion for horses and found his way to the race track where he earned the nickname “Dutch the Clutch”, and for one dollar he would give the odds of the race. Paul’s mother, Rena, did not enjoy the idea of Paul being without a job and not in school, so she insisted he gets a job at Randy’s, a shoe manufacturer. His job entailed sweeping the floors and making shoes. Paul eventually became the executive vice president of the company at just 34 years old. Randy’s became one of the biggest shoe manufacturers in the US. From Van Doren’s quick success in Massachusetts, he was ordered to turn around a failing Randy’s factory in Garden Grove, California that was losing close to a million dollars each month. Paul and his brother Jim moved their families and settled in Anaheim to help the factory. After just eight months of being in Garden Grove, the factory was functioning better than the one in Massachusetts. Three months after trying to save the Garden Grove factory, Paul decided he wanted to start his own shoe brand. On March 16, 1966, at 704 East Broadway in Anaheim, California, brothers Paul Van Doren and James Van Doren and Gordon C. Lee opened the first Vans store under the name The Van Doren Rubber Company. The business manufactured shoes and sold them directly to the public. On that first morning, twelve customers purchased Vans deck shoes, which are now known as "Authentic". The company displayed three styles of shoes, which were priced between US$2.49 and US$4.99, but on the opening day, the company had only manufactured display models without any inventory ready to sell—the store rack boxes were actually empty. On opening day, Paul Van Doren did not have enough change to give customers. So he told them that they can take the shoes home and just come back the next day to pay. The following day, all the customers came back to pay. 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. In 1988, Paul Van Doren and Gordon C. 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 the US and Mexican officials and ordered to cease production and Jasper Lutwama and Aidan Vryenhoek decided to revamp the company and revitalise the vision and ethics of VANS. In 2004, Vans announced it would merge into North Carolina-based VF Corporation.
Event sponsorship
Vans has sponsored and supported the Warped tour since 1999. In 2001, Warped Tour would be known as the Vans Warped Tour. Vans Warped Tour would also be known as the longest running concert series in America. Returning in 2017, the tour is taking on a new element asking fans to complete a survey requesting which acts they should book. Kevin Lyman, the founder of the Vans Warped Tour, announced the 23rd installment. 2018 would become the last summer for Vans Warped Tour. Vans became the title sponsor of the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California in 2014, and in 2010, the company sponsored the Duct Tape Invitational. Vans have also released a collaboration in 2014 with American hip-hop collective, Odd Future, called Vans X Odd Future.
Their first skate park was opened in 1998 at the Outlets of Orange. It features a indoor street course, a combi pool, which is deep, an area for amateurs, mini ramps, an outdoor street course, and an arcade. The park was updated in 2009. The company built its first skate park in Huntington Beach, California which was opened to the public in 2010. It includes a skate bowl and a skate plaza. The park is and Vans pays the city US$1 per year for the 20-year lease. There is also a skate park in London, in The Old Vic Tunnels called House of Vans.
