for the road vehicle see van . for other uses see vans disambiguation . type subsidiary industry apparel founded march 16 1966 ; 50 years ago 1966 03 16 as the van doren rubber company headquarters cypress california u.s. area served worldwide products clothing footwear accessories owners paul van doren gordon c. lee james van doren parent vf outdoor inc. a subsidiary 1 of vf corporation website www.vans.com vans headquarters in cypress california vans is an american manufacturer of shoes based in cypress california the company also produces apparel and other products such as t shirts hoodies socks hats and backpacks . as of august 2013 the brand is active in the actions sports industry and sponsors skateboard surf snow bmx and motocross teams . 2 since 1996 the company has also been the primary sponsor of the annual vans warped tour traveling rock festival . contents 1 history 2 event sponsorship 3 public skate parks 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit on march 16 1966 at 704 east broadway in anaheim california brothers paul van doren and james van doren gordon lee and serge d elia opened the first vans store under the name the van doren rubber company . 3 paul van doren and d elia owned the majority of the company while james van doren and lee each owned a 10 percent stake . the business manufactured shoes and sold them directly to the public . on that first morning twelve customers purchased vans deck shoes which are now known as authentic . the company displayed three styles of shoes which were priced between us 2.49 and us 4.99 but on the opening day the company had only manufactured display models without any inventory ready to sell the store rack boxes were actually empty . 4 nevertheless the twelve customers selected the colors and styles they desired and were asked to return later in the afternoon to pick up their purchases . paul van doren and lee then rushed to the factory to manufacture the selected shoes . when the customers returned that afternoon to pick up their shoes paul van doren and lee realized that they had forgotten to maintain a cash reserve to provide change to customers . the customers were therefore given the shoes and asked to return the following day with their payments . all twelve of the customers returned the following day to pay for their items . 4 in 1988 paul van doren sold the vans company to the banking firm mccown de leeuw & co. for us 74.4 million . in 1989 many manufacturers of counterfeit vans shoes were apprehended by the us and mexican officials and ordered to cease production . 4 in 2004 vans announced it would merge into north carolina based vf corporation . 5 in august 2013 the vans skateboard team filmed a video and team rider geoff rowley explained in an interview that the video will represent a team of grateful vans riders returning the support that they have received from the shoe brand thus far . 6 skateboard filmmaker greg hunt who previously worked on the alien workshop video mindfield is solely responsible for the video and it is the first ever project that hunt has been given complete creative control over . 7 event sponsorship edit this section needs expansion . you can help by adding to it . august 2013 vans has sponsored the warped tour for over 20 years . 8 the company became the title sponsor of the us open of surfing in huntington beach california in 2014 . 9 public skate parks edit vans shoes in use on a skateboard the first skate park was opened in 1998 at the outlets of orange . it features a 20 000 square foot 1 900 m2 indoor street course a combi pool which is 12 feet 3.7 m deep an area for amateurs mini ramps an outdoor street course and an arcade . the park was updated in 2008 . 10 the company built its first free skate park in huntington beach california which was opened to the public in 2014 . it includes a 17 500 square foot 1 630 m2 skate bowl and a 25 000 square foot 2 300 m2 skate plaza . the park is 42 500 square feet 3 950 m2 and vans pays the city us 1 per year for the 20 year lease . 11 10 this park is open 7 days a week . there is also a skate park in london in the old vic tunnels called house of vans . 12 see also edit companies portal greater los angeles portal fashion portal references edit vf outdoor completes acquisition of eagle creek inc. . home . vans.com . vans a vf company . august 2013 . retrieved 25 august 2013 . connelly laylan march 11 2016 . happy 50th vans how the iconic shoe brand born in anaheim has kept on surviving . the orange county register . retrieved 12 march 2016 . a b c vans inc. history . funding universe . funding universe . 2012 . retrieved 25 august 2013 . http www.grindtv.com surf vf corp to buy vans for 396 million dollars jc1rlmmebormuemj .97 ride channel 16 august 2013 . geoff rowley & chase gabor nyjah street league extremely sorry weekend buzz ep . 74 pt . 2 video upload . youtube . google inc. retrieved 25 august 2013 . jake phelps 2 june 2014 . thrasher radio ep . 24 geoff rowley audio upload . thrasher magazine . high speed productions inc. retrieved 29 july 2014 . history of vans members . vans . 2013 . retrieved 11 february 2013 . bell jennie april 20 2016 . vans renews us open of surfing sponsorship through 2018 . footwear news . retrieved 3 september 2016 . a b fletcher jaimee lynn march 22 2014 . vans to open free skatepark in h.b. saturday . the orange county register . p. local 2 . retrieved 22 march 2014 . fletcher jaimee lynn january 28 2012 . h.b. oks lease for first free vans skate park . the orange county register . p. local 7 . under london disused tunnel now a subterranean skate park . webist media . 2014 08 25 . archived from the original on 2015 09 01 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to vans brand . official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title vans & oldid 744200987 categories 1966 establishments in california1980s fashion1990s fashion2000s fashion2010s fashioncompanies based in orange county californiacompanies established in 1966shoe brandsshoe companies of the united statesskateboarding companiessnowboarding companiessportswear brandssurfwear brandshidden categories articles to be expanded from august 2013all articles to be expandedarticles using small message boxescommons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages e tinadeutschespa olfran ais italiano magyarnederlandsnorsk bokm lpolskiportugu s suomisvenskatagalogt rk e edit links this page was last modified on 13 october 2016 at 18 59 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view