My Vans Classic Tale|我的vans經典故事|我的vans经典故事

As you may have noticed, we have been doing a campaign with Vans Hong Kong,  they've launching the HK leg of their global 'Vans Classic Tales' campaign...   where people share their history of wearing Vans.    

Its potentially a risky move because not everyone out there has owned a pair of Vans before or can necessarily relate to the brand that way... plus it may make the brand seem dated and not cutting edge.  But on the other hand,  I think it also has the potentially to reconnect a lot of former Vans owners with their brand... people who haven't owned a pair of Vans in many many years (many decades even?), but still have a strong affinity for the brand and the age it brings to mind.

Well actually I am DEFINITELY one of these people.   Beginning in elementary school and jr. High (the mid 80s to late!) I got into skateboarding and owned a number of pairs of Vans... at that point these were the only shoes and self respecting skater would be caught dead in.   This was before anyone was wearing Air Walk and Vision Street Wear for sure.  I remember when we saw 'Fast Times and Ridgemont High'  we thought it was so cool that Spicoli was wearing Vans slip-ons...  (that and Phoebe Cates...)

Actually when I was back at my parents house a few years back I was digging through my old room (which my brother dumped a lot of his old stuff in after I moved away to school) and found a pair of his old classic blue Sk8 High tops.  I actually owned a similar pair back in the day which have long since been lost to the sands of time.

AS you can see this pair have seen a lot of miles. :-P

A classic meets 80's style...  This is one step away from wearing an over sized T-shirt with a giant ' RELAX' written on it... :-P So for me,  when I see these shoes,  it reminds me of those (relatively) carefree days of riding our skateboards anywhere we could find a decent place to go...  I grew up in a pretty rural area so finding good things to skate on was not easy.... we didn't even have sidewalks on most of the roads anywhere near my house....     so you'd end up having to beg your mom to drive you to the skate shop downtown or a park or your friend's house and bring your skateboard along...

ahh, good times!  :-P

Speaking of which,   among the other things from my past I dug up were some of my brother's and my old decks...  I suppose these would be collectors items if they were kept in better shape...

Steve Steadham and Rob Roskop classics! This one was mine.  the stickers are from the Sunshine House, the only local surf shop around that also sold skateboards...  and Vans of course.   (actually now that you mention it, why was there a surf shop in Washington DC?.... it is more than 100 miles from the Ocean and not even the good surfing one!) :-P

This is my last deck,  still in relatively good shape, a Mike McGill 1984...     back then collecting all the Powell Peralta rider's stickers was also a side hobby.   The artwork Vernon Courtlandt Johnson aka "VCJ" was the SHIT....  still pretty cool! Check this page out for more of his stuff :-P

As you can imagine,  I stopped skating around 1988... shortly before going to high school and of course getting a driver's license....  except for occasionally riding that skateboard up and down the hallway of our dorm Freshman year at Berkeley.... but that's another story for another time. :-P

Anyway,  please do me a favor and share your Vans Classic Tales here -

www.vans.com/classictales