How Vans Shoes Became A Quiet Fashion Juggernaut

Vans’ thick-soled skateboarding sneakers, which are, somewhat improbably, more relevant and prevalent now than at any other point in the company’s almost half-century of existence. Such longevity wasn’t always assured. “I like to joke that we’ve had a checkered past,” says Vans President Kevin Bailey, a pair of the company’s kicks in his hands: iconic black-and-white checkerboard ones, recently reengineered for greater comfort at roughly half the weight. Read more at Forbes.