Paul Van Doren
KULLEN COBLE Paul Van Doren Businessman, Innovator, The Van Doren Rubber Co., Vans
1930 – 2021
“Do what’s right. Stand behind what you do every single minute of every day. Take care of people.”
“From Day One, I knew my success would depend on the team I assembled to make the best quality shoes with a common purpose. I needed people around me who would share my conviction that nothing in life or business is impossible. It might be expensive, or it might take more time than someone wants to put into it, but I can assure you, barring those obstacles, nothing is impossible. Anyone who tells you otherwise is full of it.”
“My idea was to make the best shoe, with the best materials and workmanship. Making shoes is an art. I never wanted to make second-rate anything, and when it came to shoes, vulcanized rubber was synonymous with quality.”
“What I considered most important about people was their attitude, their integrity, and their desire to do things the right way. Without knowing it at the time, I was initiating what would eventually become the vans empire by molding the inclusive people-centrifuged family vibe that became our signature Vans culture.”
“Do what’s right. Stand behind what you do every single minute of every day. Take care of people.”
“No matter how good the odds, no matter who’s the favorite, no one but no one wins every race. Even when we pay attention , when we hope and pray and prepare and double- and triple-check, things go sideways. People lose their health nd hard-earned businesses and the loves of their lives, and no one sees it coming. That’s the hardscrabble of life.”
“I was never really a gambler, but a guy who calculated the odds. So let me leave you with this parting thought; when you have good people with you, the odds are with you, too. And the longer I live, the more I see the truth of it.”
Stacy Peralta was Vans first paid athlete in 1976.
