Ghetto Juice

With the Vans Pier Classic happening in HB this week, and a good swell on tap guaranteeing we’ll see some of the world’s best surfing, it’s a good time to reflect on Vans in general…. Since coming in strong into the surf world in the mid-90s, Vans has checker-boarded its way through the muddy waters of the surf industry becoming one of the biggest players in the game…. And the waters are murky indeed… only the stongest of the stong can survive decade after decade in the surf industry…. Quik, Volcom, Sanuk…. no worries on their end either…. But Vans, well, there’s no one in the world quite like ‘em….

But are they saving the world of surfing? I think so, and here’s why:

1. Surf Team and Marketing Campaign. Sure Quikkie, Sanuk and Volcom have all truly mastered the perfect surf teams, but Vans has come into their own as well the last few years…. Their campaigns are clean, their message is clear and the creative is always spot on. Throw in the world’s best surfers, like John John, Dane Reynolds, Al Knost, Droid, or the Gudangs and you’ve got a team that can rival anyone.

2. The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. It’s the biggest thing in surfing. It’s our Masters, the British Open, the World Series, the Super Bowl, all of the above. And Vans owns it. We should thank them for that, too… nothing worse than back in the day when the sponsor changed every single year…. anyone remember what it was called before the Vans Triple Crown? Offhand we can’t either, so that means they’ve done a tremendous job and it’s no doubt they’ll never let that title sponsorship go….

3. An ASP vision…. Everyone knows the folks at Vans would do a hell of a lot better job putting the ASP World Tour together than the folks down in Australia. No offsense. Having the World Tour HQ’d in Australia is hurting all the surfers on tour whether they know it or not. There’s a reason why the PGA, NBA, MLB, NFL, and other sports organizations are HQ’d in the USA…. it’s because it’s where all the money is!!!!!!! So will it ever become the Vans ASP World Tour? We sure hope so… The Monster Energy ASP World Tour or Panasonic Shock Wave ASP World Tour just doesn’t sound legit… but put Vans name in front of anything, and cha-ching!!!!

VANS

4. Stepping it up. They announced this week they will be doing an ASP Prime 6 Star with the ECSC…. this is HUGE! Plus their 4 star in HB sparks future world tour hopes for hundreds of So Cal surfers every year…. and that program is only getting better….

5. Let’s see… what else…? Well, their numbers are impressive… millions of shoes sold annually, hundreds of millions in sales, and with skateboarding growing beyond belief…. it’s a no brainer.. Vans is killing it and we’re stoked to be the first to claim they are SAVING THE SPORT OF SURFING!!!!

At the end of the day it comes down to this: Every company who has an event on the tour is, in their own way, “saving the sport of surfing”. Without the Quikkie Pros, Billabong and Rip Curl Pros, and the Volcom Fiji Pro… without these companies there would be no world tour either… but just imagine for a second how different it would be if Vans simply shunned the world of surfing…. we’d all be screwed.

So we’d like to take this moment to thank Vans for supporting the world of surfing. Heck, I’d like to say they’re even saving it.——Skip Snead

Costa Mesa, CA-—-Sure Collins’s come in all shapes and styles these days. You’ve got your Grants and Skindogs and Ratboys, and legendary surf forecasters like Sean … but there’s always been just one Skeletor. Ghetto Juice interviews….

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