The Surfing Blog

Vans Shoes has been around for years and has sponsored some of the greatest and most well-known action sport stars since it was founded in 1966. In recent years the Vans VP of marketing, Doug Palladini, has worked with a handful of Vans originals including Tony Alva, Steve Caballero, John Cardiel, Shaun Palmer, Joel Tudor and many more to help piece together “Vans Off the Wall: Stories of Sole from Vans Originals.”

This 208-page book is packed with 365 full color illustrations and countless oral stories that help tell the story of how Vans Shoes has influenced music, art and action sports through the last 43 years. This amazing book is available on Vans website for about $25 and is a must have for anyone who has ever owned or currently owns a pair of Vans shoes.

Here’s a really good video of Steve Van Doren, lifelong employee and son of Vans Shoes founder Paul Van Doren, describing the process of making Vans Shoes. In this video, he also tells the story behind the history of the company, how they started out, and what makes Vans Shoes so unique. The video contains a lot of original footage of the founders and of the factory from back in the day, and also explains the reasoning behind some of the features that make a shoe a Vans Shoe, such as the double stitching and thick, diamond patterned soles:

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