Well folks. Clayton and I managed to pull it off again. Not sure how, but Steve Van Doren graciously hosted another Waffleheads event at Vans HQ, to wrap up this year’s 31 Days of Vans. I am beyond grateful, and it’s humbling to see everyone come out and support us, most being my close friends and family, who I do acknowledge are there to support me, but they understand how important this is to me, and to my community of Vans nerds. I have converted many to Waffleheads, mainly through our love of sneakers, but I think my eVANSgelism is rubbing off on them, as they see just what our community is about, and the vibes we all have. How can you not love us? Also, a big shout out to everyone that had to travel, whether by plane or roadtrip. I know it’s not easy, or cheap, so I appreciate you. Sorry to those we couldn’t invite, but if you can somehow promise that you can attend next year, I will do my best to extend the invite. Shit, if we have to sell admission or pairs of the shoes, would you still be down?! I’m open to any options to keep this thing rolling FOREVER!
We’re all unique. We find our own paths within’ this growing community. We all come from different walks of life, and our demographic is a marketers worst nightmare (Ages 0 – 100+ jk!). We had babies less than one year old at the event, and we had quite a few folks with a lot of wisdom and knowledge under their belt as well! I was absolutely in awe at the family atmosphere we had, and you definitely felt the love. I really admire that we were able to represent for our “Vans Family” which is proof to be a real thing. To quote the late Paul Van Doren, “It was always about the people, and never about the product”. I hope that’s what everyone felt when they went home afterwards.
We had the honor and privilege to be around some great folks that evening. Steve Van Doren was the center piece to it all, and I’m glad he didn’t have to grill this time, and got to mingle and take pics with any and everyone who went up to him. Christian Hosoi was back again, which was just so dope. You have no idea. He’s one of my favorite skaters of all time. His Vans shoes are by far my favorite to collect, and boy does he got stories to tell. We love you Holmes! Rian Pozzebon was in the building again, this time just chilling and chopping it up about the good old days of Vans Syndicate, Vault, and the stuff our core collectors just eat up. Thank you for hanging with us afterwards at Salty Bear too, sir! Always a great time.
Steve ordered us a huge spread of BBQ and sides, and boy did it not disappoint! They provided beverages, including some beer and wine this time, which was a surprise. Not sure if they thought it was going to be a 21+ event or not, but sorry if they thought it was! For future reference, if we ever get invited back again, we can skip the alcohol if it means we get to bring back all the families. That’s number 1 on my priorities. But we thank Vans, and everyone they had on hand to help out. Kristy, Bob, and everyone else who we just don’t know on a personal level YET! We plan to, because we owe you a debt of gratitude as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Obviously, y’all have seen the shoe that Steve had made for us this year, which was a Lowland 2.0 model, heavily inspired by the original Vans Breakers from the Serio line of the 80’s, which were made for breakdancing. I was completely caught off guard with it, to be honest, but I personally knew the significance of the shoe, and what it was inspired by, but I was at first a little worried about what some would think of it. The Breakers are a Vans collector’s grail. They’re so damn obscure, and rare, and expensive on the resell market, so most will never own a pair. That is until now. Word is, these will be releasing later on, but not sure how, as our pairs are a Zero SKU project, aka Van Doren Approved collection, similar to other private projects he has done. Zero SKUs are gold to us! We will just have to wait and see, but I will create a separate post for just the shoe pics whenever I get around to it. Be patient!
All in all, I am just humbled. Completely filled with love and joy after an amazing and long weekend, filled with lots of hanging out, and endless sneaker talk. We also did our annual meetup on the following Saturday at Blends Costa Mesa, which is where this whole idea started 3 years ago. I posted up those pics too! Thank you again to everybody who came out to support, and I hope you thoroughly enjoyed yourselves. I am just happy that you came out to support me and mine. I love y’all! -Bill (Guamstyles)
tons of pics after the jump Read More
