Vans Shoes & Clothing

Humble beginnings

The foursome became just the fourth manufacturer of vulcanized rubber footwear in the United States. But the company’s origin was a humble one, with empty boxes populating shoe racks to represent the stock they didn’t yet have! As the first 16 customers browsed those shelves on the opening day of that first store in Anaheim, Calif., in 1966, the Van Doren gang would have to manufacture the customers’ selections that day. Blue boxes were for men’s shoes, green for women’s, and red for kids’.

The shoe models didn’t even have names yet, though model no. 44 was the authentic deck shoe that remains popular, and models 45 and 46 were the canvas and leather boat shoes that have been popular styles of Vans ever since.

Custom-manufacturing their customers’ shoes had an interesting artistic advantage for the fledgling sellers, as they wound up making shoes out of customer-chosen bolts of cloth, including from uniforms from local Catholic schools.

Skaters’ world

The company grew to become synonymous with skate culture. But its first foray into that world came in those early days in Southern California, when local skaters called for custom versions of the Van Doren company’s shoes. The Van Dorens added strategically placed padding to help protect skaters’ ankles from wayward boards and released the Skate Hi (now the Sk8-Hi) on March 18, 1976.

Vans innovated new ideas through the 1970s, developing now-classics like the Vans #95 (now known as the Era), the Vans #36 (Old Skool), and the Vans #98 (Classic Slip-Ons). This was also the era when Vans rolled out its “Off The Wall” slogan and logo, underscoring its place in counterculture; a breaker of the status quo.

Learning and growing

As Vans branched into other areas of athletic footwear in the early 1980s, it began to realize it was straying from its roots and what it did best. Leaders corrected the company’s course by 1987, and Vans has remained the first name in skate style and streetwear.

Foot Locker’s offerings include a gamut of classics – the Era, the high-top look of the Sk8-Hi, the Authentic, the Old Skool, and more. And Vans are available in so many colours and patterns, you can wear several styles of the same model without looking or feeling like a repeat.

And you can complete your Vans look with a similar array of colours and styles in Vans hoodies, tees, and fleece pants.