{"product_id":"authentic-a-memoir-by-the-founder-of-vans-used-condition","title":"Authentic: A Memoir by the Founder of Vans-Used Condition","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the tradition of bestsellers such as Shoe Dog, Authentic is a surprisingly candid, compelling memoir by a high school dropout who went on to establish one of the worlds most iconic brands.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYou may not have known their creator, but you certainly know the shoes: for more than four generations, Vans shoes have been synonymous with cool.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNow in Authentic, a memoir written by Paul Van Doren and published just before his May 2021 death, the charismatic founder of Vans shares his story of heading West and capturing the American dream.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAuthentic is a celebration of Van Doren’s remarkable life and the iconic brand he built, beloved by skateboarders, creatives, and fans everywhere for its laid-back, colorful SoCal vibe, and famous for its people-oriented company culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn Authentic, he shares his unlikely journey from high-school dropout to sneaker-industry legend. A blue-collar kid with no higher education and zero retail experience, Van Doren started out as a 16-year-old “service boy” at a local rubber factory. Over the next few decades, he leveraged a knack for numbers, a genius for efficiency, and the know-how to make a great canvas tennis shoe into an all-American success story. What began as a family shoe business has today evolved into a globally recognized brand with billions of dollars of annual revenue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eVan Doren is not just an entrepreneur, he’s an innovator. In 1966, when the first House of Vans store opened, there were no stand-alone retail stores just for sneakers. Paul’s bold experiments in product design, distribution, and marketing (Why not sell custom shoes? Single shoes?), aided by legions of fans — skateboarders, surfers, even Sean Penn wearing Vans’ famous checkerboard slip-on shoe in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High — made Vans a household name. But there was also back-breaking work, a shocking bankruptcy, family turmoil, and a profound shift in how customers think about athletic shoes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe book details Van Doren’s personal life, but also hard-won business lessons learned over six turbulent decades in the shoe trade: the importance of deep-rooted values, of improvisation, of vision (and revision), and above all, of valuing people over profits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAuthentic is Paul Van Doren’s written legacy and his lessons for the innovators of tomorrow.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBracingly forthright and totally entertaining, Authentic is a business memoir by an American original.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vertel Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47919426732277,"sku":"BRWH-164112024X","price":22.38,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/5804\/8501\/files\/61G9ItEh7UL_736d3385-7cdc-4fbe-b055-c980eab688ac.jpg?v=1775223561","url":"https:\/\/ergodebooks.com\/products\/authentic-a-memoir-by-the-founder-of-vans-used-condition","provider":"Ergodebooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}