Paul Van Doren, co-founder of the Vans brand, passed away at the age of 90.
The cause of death was not been released.
“Paul was not just an entrepreneur; he was an innovator. The Van Doren Rubber Company was the culmination of a lifetime of experimentation and hard work in the shoe industry. Paul’s bold experiments in product design, distribution and marketing, along with his knack for numbers and efficiency turned a family shoe business into a globally recognized brand,” Vans said in an Instagram post Friday.
“We send our love and strength to the Van Doren family and the countless Vans Family members who have brought Paul’s legacy to life. Thank you for everything, Paul. You will be sorely missed,” the post said.
Van Doren, with his brother Jim and two other partners, opened their first location of the Van Doren Rubber Co. in 1966 in Anaheim. The company history notes 12 people bought shoes that day, which were made on order and ready for pickup by the afternoon. The starting price for a pair was $2.49. In subsequent years, the retailer became known as the “House of Vans.”
Flat, grippy and built to last, Vans shoes were adopted by Southern California skateboard culture of the 1970s. By the end of the decade, the company had 70 stores in California and was exporting its shoes around the country.
In popular culture, the company received a big boost when Sean Penn wore a pair of Vans in the 1982 film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” hitting his head with the checkerboard shoes in one notable scene.
Van Doren and his partner Gordy Lee sold the company in 1988 to a banking firm for $74 million.
VF Corp. bought Vans in 2004 for nearly $400 million and operate more than 300 Vans stores while also owning brands like Supreme, The North Face, Timberland, Dickies and JanSport.
Last month, Paul Van Doren published a memoir, “Authentic.”
“A blue-collar kid with no higher education and zero retail experience, Van Doren started out as a 16-year-old “service boy” at a local rubber factory,” the book’s publisher wrote in promotional copy. “Over the next few decades, he leveraged a knack for numbers, a genius for efficiency, and the know-how to make a great canvas tennis shoe into an all-American success story. What began as a family shoe business has today evolved into a globally recognized brand with billions of dollars of annual revenue.
Photo courtesy Paul Van Doren
