This past Thursday we co-hosted our first of hopefully many meet and greets, to celebrate Vans culture in a way unlike any other culture out there. Some sneaker brands organize their communities around an outdoor activity, a basketball tournament, a sneaker convention of sorts, etc. Something that represents their demographic and their style. Well, it’s kind of hard to put a finger on what exactly our Vans sneaker community is, and perhaps that’s the best part about it. Like the campaign slogan a few years back, “Not Just One Thing”, so as are we. When Julz, Nobu, and I first started talking about an idea of doing an event, we had no direction, and nothing to build off of, and it sorta’ got put on the back burner a few times. Well, as Vans started rolling out the WAFFLEHEADS campaign, and my name started popping up, that started to provide us with some inspiration. The Blends CM crew decided we should host an event for me, showcasing some of my collection, similar to how some of my pairs are currently on display in Chicago and in NYC at two of Vans’ flagship stores, but we’d try to add another layer to it, by also hosting a social gathering, to bring out our local WAFFLEHEADS family. Perfect! Now the work starts.
So now that we had a “waffleheads” theme to run with, we started thinking of all the possibilities for an event. I’ve been working on a new Antidot sneaker refresher fragrance with the SolScience guys, and it was based around a maple syrup scent, geared for fresh waffles, aka Vans, so I wanted to make sure we could somehow work them into the mix, which turned out great. We then thought how cool it would be to get the Vans waffle maker machine for our event, which we’ve only seen at a handful of them. We knew it was a shot in the dark, and we’d most likely get shot down, but we just had to ask. Our PR homie Michelle C. handed us off to the Vans marketing team, and boy did we get hooked up. We not only got Vans to come make us about 100 or so waffles, they also hooked us up with chain-stitch artist Ben Goetting, to personalize the chore coats that were being sold during the event, which then turned into people getting to customize their free Vans tote bags that were being given out. I apologize for having Ben stay til closing, due to the long line and high demand for his art services! We also had free beer from Bootleggers, who recently opened a tap room about 50 yards away from Blends CM, and what’s better than free beer?!
The most important thing about the event wasn’t the rare sneakers on display. Nope. It was our people. It was a reunion of sorts. Some guys I haven’t seen for a few years now, since the last time the #blendsboiz camped out for sneakers! Some were new friends that just started to discover our community, and some just happened to be sneaker enthusiasts who happened to stop by while on vacation from Canada, who were stoked to see something like this going on! That’s just so cool to me. Our plan of having the event on a Thursday night, to attract friends and fam from Vans HQ worked out quite nicely too, as I met a few folks who I never met before. My family came out in droves as well, and I thank each and every one of you. Seriously, most of the pics you’re going to see are of the people. That’s what makes this shit cool for me. If I can get people to come out, by way of this Vans vehicle, then I’ll ride it til’ the wheels fall off! Stay tuned for more fun and innovative ways to incorporate more and more people to join in on our fun and youthful culture.
Please enjoy all of the pics after the jump, who mostly came from my homie Eason, Nate, and my bro Ron.
