Vans Shoes was founded by Paul Van Doren back in 1966 with the simple idea of selling his Vans Shoes directly to the public. The first Vans Shoes stores opened in Anaheim, South California on March 15th, 1966.
The first Vans shoes incorporated the now famous diamond sole pattern, vertical lines were added to make the unit strong and it became known as the Vans Shoes Waffle sole.
In 1976 the newly emerging cult of skateboarders chose Vans Shoes to wear while doing their pastime and these skaters asked to have different colours combined on the one shoe. Vans shoes delivered with the first Vans Era in the authentic red and blue designed by cult skate boarders Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta. The skateboarding craze spread like wild fire and with it so did the popularity of Vans Shoes.
Today Vans has over 60 styles of shoes in its range, from the classic Vans Era and Vans Slip on to high performance skateboard shoes As well as an ever growing range of Vans T-Shirts and clothing