11/6/11
Van Doren -- who co-founded Vans with
his brother Paul, long-time friend Gordon Lee and
partner Serge Delia in Anaheim, California in 1966 -- died October
12 after a long illness, the firm said on its website.
"Jim Van Doren will always be remembered by Vans as
a great innovator and the mechanical mind that joined with brother
Paul's retail acumen and Gordy's shoe manufacturing expertise to
take Vans from
that single store to national prominence and setting the stage for
the global brand that Vans is
today," the company said.
Van Doren personally created the molds of the original
canvas-top Vans in
his garage, then grew the company as California skateboarders soon
discovered the solid grip of the sneaker's thick rubber soles.
Hollywood star Sean Penn raised Vans'
profile when he appeared in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" in a
pair of checkerboard slip-ons in 1982.
"He guided Vans through
the checkerboard era, and we were flying," his nephew Steve Van
Doren told the Los Angeles Times. "We were the hottest thing
going."
Van Doren passed the corporate helm to his brother in 1984
when Vans,
losing money, went into bankruptcy and reorganized its operations.
He became a general contractor, often working for free for the
needy, the Times said.
Vans today is owned by the VF
Corporation, a North Carolina company whose big stable of
brands includes Lee and Wrangler jeans, Nautica sportswear, Kipling bags
and North
Faceoutdoor products.