What’s behind Vans’ audience growth? A brand role you’ve probably never heard of

“Marketers have been really receptive to wanting to deepen their storytelling for our consumers,” Acosta says.

Heritage sneaker retailers like Nike and Adidas and luxury brands from Louis Vuitton, Veuve Clicquot and Tiffany have built archives over decades using them to inform product development and create exhibitions. But beyond these examples, in-house brand archivists are a rare breed.

Often brand archives are kept back of house and used as an internal research function, but other companies, like Vans, have “allowed their archives to become a marketing platform to really speak for the brand and really offer their consumers an opportunity for deeper storytelling.”

Because there hasn’t been an archive prior to the last four years, much of her work has been spent in the ’discovery phase’, she explains. “With that comes a lot of people learning how to work with me, and me trying to put guardrails as to how I can support and help,” Acosta says.

Acosta is personally driven by bringing lesser-known and marginalized stories to the forefront of the brand. “There is a lot of rich diversity and nuance in the brand’s history that has been overlooked because there hasn't been someone sitting in the role,” she says.

Prior to the role Vans’ marketing team had relied on anecdotal stories from Vans’ heritage which often meant “putting skate culture at the forefront and perhaps overlooking some of the other aspects of Vans’ rich history,” Acosta says. She admits often there was a push to over-emphasize the skateboarding aspect of the brand.

Acosta counters: “That’s not to say it’s not important or not as big as it should be, but there are a lot of other things happening in the background.”

Founded by the Van Doren brothers, Vans set up shop in 1966 in southern California – first as a manufacturer-retailer called The Van Doren Rubber Company. Before its association with youth culture, the company sold everyday tennis shoes to families, kids and adults. As a manufacturer it also took contracts for military footwear and, at one point, clown shoes.

It was in the 70s that the brand found its links to the skateboarding youth culture, in California which it retains to this day. “We’re such a cultural company,” Acosta says. “There is a connection to southern California culture where its various types of youth subcultures have informed and adopted the brand. Then the action sports through skateboarding, BMX, surf and snow, there’s just so many different avenues of where Vans has shown up.”

One story she’s particularly proud of investigating informed Vans’ Anaheim Factory Needlepoint Authentic collection and campaign. In the 70s and 80s Vans sold needlepoint kits to customers to customize their shoes. The product was largely taken up by women. Acosta says the needlepoint phenomenon “challenges our basic notion of sneaker culture at large as being more male-oriented and sports,” and taps into individualism, women’s work and hobbies, and feminist art.

In April, Vans unveiled its 2023 global brand campaign that encourages self-discovery through creativity. ’This is Off the Wall’ partners with ambassadors from a range of backgrounds, including sports, music, fashion and art. Little Simz, Arthur Bray and Salome Agbaroji were among its partners.

“There are so many great nuggets in the past from Vans’ history that really support key brand concepts like Vans’ take on creativity, uniqueness, individuality, that actually aren’t even attached to skateboarding,” she adds. “I’m barely on the cusp of what can be done in this role.”