About this item
You may not know their creator, but you certainly know the shoes: for more than a generation, Vans shoes have been synonymous with cool. Now in this refreshingly candid memoir, meet Paul Van Doren, the charismatic founder of Vans - the shoe company beloved by skateboarders, creatives, and fans everywhere for its laid-back, colorful SoCal vibe, and famous for its people-oriented company culture. In Authentic, he shares his unlikely journey from high-school dropout to sneaker-industry legend. 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. 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.
About the Author
Paul Van Doren was one of the founders of Vans, a shoe company in the United States.
