Doug Palladini

I’m still not a girl who skates, but could I resist a book all about the history of Vans? The shoes came first for me, way before I went down the rabbit hole of skate fashion in general, so we’re totally still on brand! Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the shoe company started by the Van Doren family, the book is a checkerboard-covered deep dive into the history of the company that brings their true soul (sole in their subtitle, lol) to the forefront. From the heartfelt intro from Steve Van Doren to the compilation of interviews, pastiches, and shorts written and collected by author Doug Palladini the book takes us on a fast ride from the company’s origins to its expansions, and doesn’t seem to miss a thing on the adventure. Packed full of personal stories from the Vans-wearing family and behind the scenes photographs, the book tales on the role of a madcap family scrapbook - not taking itself particularly seriously, even though it’s chock full of dates, memories, and the technical details of shoe manufacturing. The contents of the book could have easily veered into chaos considering how much material they had to pack in, but everything stayed short, sweet, and concise in each chapter - balancing a light-hearted (but quality amount of) text with a veritable slew of photographic illustration to create a layout and narration that captured the brand’s simplistic design ethos and the frenetic energy it inspires. Obviously, we’re now 7 years on from publication and Vans has further expanded into different business areas (so many new collabs) while folding other parts of the business (so long, Warped Tour), so there’s a new chunk of their history missing; but they still seem to be successfully going off the wall, so here’s hoping they’re around for another 50 years and we get to have an even chunkier checkerboard book for the shelf!… (mere)