Vans founder Paul Van Doren was born in Boston in 1930. His first job was arranged by his mother who, despairing about his absence of scholarly instincts, found him a position in the shoe plant where she was employed. This is where Paul first learned about shoes, serving, as it were, his apprenticeship.. Paul did well in the shoe business in due course becoming Vice President of Randy's, a famous shoe company in Boston.. Paul decided to go directly into the shoe industry along with three partners who formed the Van Doren Rubber Company. In 1966 they opened their manufacturing plant in sunny California. He noted the lack of profit margin for the manufacturer but also saw the huge profits made by the retailer, so he opened a retail outlet . It went well with the company selling a respectable 12 pairs of shoes on their first day of trading which was March 16th 1966 - the shoes sold were the famous Vans decks (these later became known as Authentic).
The 1970s witnessed a period of growth for the company maily because of new designs being developed and introduced to the market including large contracts for the US Air Force - rubber mukluks and wool lined canvas shoes.Vans were a big hit with skateboarders, who really enjoyed the strength of the sneakers and enjoyed the sticky sole. Vans were very popular in California throughout this period.
Nineteen seventy five saw the introduction of the Vans Era. Skateboarders adored this trainer, enjoying the wide variety of brilliant color styles, the cushioned collar. The ubiquitous Vans Slip-on was introduced in 1979. It was in fact incredibly popular with skateboarders and BMX bike riders. This continual development of hugely successful trainers delivered the company a lot of success and eventually the business owned approximately 70 shops in California towards the end of the nineteen seventies. Around this period Vans went first national and then international, opening retail outlets and working with distributors..
Many changes came to the company during the decade of the 80s.. The constant product development continued. In order to compete with the really big players in the market Vans developed shoes for markets away from the skateboarding and BMX worlds and looked at surfing, wake-boardings and motor cross. Vans Slip-ons became incredibly popular, gaining sales all over the world.
This period witnessed Paul step-back from full hands-on involvement in the daily running of the business.
The company itself became a victim of this success, which ultimately led to a cash-flow problem. The situation came to a head when the company filed for bankruptcy in 1983. Vans eventually got back on its feet over a three year period and even managed to pay-off its creditors. Eventually an investment bank bought-out the company: the business went on to be sold more than once.
Vans came out of the 80s stronger, which led to success in the 1990s. Strategically things changed. The company took product manufacturing offshore, which unfortunately meant that the company's manufacturing history in California came to an end as . Advancing Vans started to sponsor national events such as the 'Inaugural Triple Crown' series which eventually became the 'Vans Triple Crown' series, and also the 'Warped Tour' music festival. The company opened skate parks: initially in 1998 in Orange County along with the second in 2002 in Orlando. Naming rights are also important and Vans has, for example, the naming rights to Australia's internationally famous Bowl-a-Rama location.
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