Vans

Vans started as the Van Doren Rubber Company, opened in Anaheim, California, in March 1966 by brothers Paul and Jim Van Doren with partners Gordon Lee and Serge D’Elia. The company made shoes on site and sold them straight to customers from the same building.

Its sticky waffle sole made the #44 deck shoe a favorite of Dogtown-era skaters in the mid-1970s, and Vans answered with shoes made for skating: the Era in 1976, then the Old Skool, Slip-On and Sk8-Hi. In 1989 Steve Caballero got one of the first signature skate shoes, and the Half Cab that followed in 1992 is still in the line.

Vulcanized canvas and suede, the sidestripe and the checkerboard print have kept Vans the default skate shoe for five decades.