F*ck Vans

For some reason it's so hard to explain why I have this deep pain right in my childhood as I'm about to say this. I almost can'y even bring myself to manifest this thought into reality. 

I am just so damn tired if wearing vans. I got my first pair in the second grade and thought that there would never come a day where I looked back.

My older brother had just gotten a red and white checkerboard pair of slip-ons from our towns local skateshop. Not only did I fall in love with the shoes, but the experience of being in a local skateshop as foreign to me as it was felt so surreal with coolness. At this point in my life the only knowledge I had of skateboarding came from Tony Hawks Pro Skater and Underground. Although I didn't know just how in depth skate culture was it didn't take much at all to make me fall in love with it. I did know enough to become absolutely mesmerized by all the colors and styles of shoes. As a skate video played on a flat screen and my brother tried on a pair I was under culture shock as I had never been exposed to this lifestyle growing up. This store offered something that was rare to a black kid in a small southern bible belt town. It was my moms first time in the store to and I could sense that she was outside of her element. For some reason this drew me in even deeper. So I talked her into getting me my first pair and the rest was history.

The older I got the more I expressed myself through the style and colors of my Vans. I was able to find a brand that I felt represented my personality, and the culture behind it helped to shape the very person that I am today.

As I grew older these shoes became more than a fashion choice where I live. They showed that you wanted to be apart of something more than the status quo. Wearing Vans showed that you didn't let the boundaries of being stuck in the bible belt hold your taste in an unbearable choke hold. As you drive around your town seeing church after church and bank after bank (if you are lucky enough to live somewhere with multiple stoplights) there is nothing in your environment that represents a different view of life. But your vans did. 

That was back when Vans still felt like they were a part of counterculture. 

It is a known fact that fashion works just like a revolving door with trends just going around and around. So I know vans may have been popular long before they were a part of counterculture blah blah blah whatever nigga.

Now its like Vans are the most common shoe in the whole damn United States. I can't leave the house and go out into public without seeing the same pair being worn by two different people. Typically the fit they wear them with is under whelming and just average as hell. 

At first I thought that maybe it was just my hometown. It didn't bother me when they really caught on because who really has time to harp over a damn brand of shoes becoming a part of pop culture, it happens all the time. The thing that was hardest to believe was just how rapidly Vans had crossed all cultures, races, and economical classes. Whether you have one pair you wear all the time or one for everyday of the week there's a pair in almost every American household. No religion or political party would be able to stop anyone with at least $60 from joining in on the fun. 

This trend started around 2015 and now here we are five years later and the Vans trend seems to be showing no signs of slowing down. As new generations are being born and coming of age the popularity is probably higher than ever. First time moms are dying to get their infants and toddlers into a pair of Vans for an IG story post. 

From someone that used to work retail they're on damn near every kids Christmas list.

As a brand they could not have done a better job at appealing to all markets and demographics and have definitely reaped the benefits. By staying true to local skate shops by helping to host events and build skate parks, they have also given back to the skate community through different types of fundraisers. So they keep their foot in the core of the skate community so it doesn't bother me as much knowing there is an over whelming amount of people that do not "skate" that love to by them. That's because their money goes back into the skate community one way or another. Hell they even managed to scoop a skeptically not washed Tony Hawk and Andrew Reynolds so honestly I don't even know what's real at this point. 

All I know is that for me personally they just don't hit how they used to. Maybe I'm just old and jaded or maybe I lowkey have become desensitized to seeing them all the time, even on my own feet. I definitely plan on getting my wear out the few pair I have left but their apeal in my heart seems to be fading for now so who knows what my new everyday shoe might become. Lets just hope my paranoid ass doesn't start seeing whatever they are all the time too.