31 Days Of Vans 2019 Is Officially Here! #31daysofvans

It’s July, and what does that mean?  It’s time for everyone’s favorite unofficial Vans month, where we annoy the shit out of everybody, by posting (at least) 1 pair of Vans pics on your favorite social media platform of choice, and hashtagging #31daysofvans.  Why?  Because you’re down with us!  Our community grows every year, and this is a great way to take pride in that.  It’s all about the people, and not about us.  We just foster it and help it grow.  Just for the record, this is something the Vans community started back in 2015.  Any similar campaigns just have no style or creativity, so step off!  It was created by @hansoloman, one of our guys, and we’ll always try to make sure he gets that credit, no matter how large and world-wide it becomes.  We also have to give credit to the homie Kyle (@iamrocketkyle / @poprocketcreations), for creating the dope graphic we see here before us.  Looking forward to next year’s already!  This is something he started last year, but I see it continuing FOR-EV-ERRR.  Thanks!

…also, we’ll be linking up with @hr_la on another #v31 contest this year, so be sure to tag #v31 and #getyourvansathotrod if you want to participate in it.  There’s giftcards to be won from Hot Rod, for a few lucky winners!

Meet The Waffleheads – Charlene Holy Bear @c.holybear

“We’re artists, we adapt with the times. “
As a member of the Lakota Sioux tribe, Charlene has a message for anyone with a preconceived notion about Native American art: artists adapt with the times, and they’re not going anywhere. By doing traditional beadwork on Vans, Charlene keeps her tribe’s aesthetic present.
 

Check out Charlene’s website at: c-holybear.squarespace.com

Follow her on Instagram at: @c.holybear

Meet The Waffleheads – Hyun Ye @yeseulhyun

“I am more focused on doing what people tell me not to do”
There are so many facets to artist Hyun Ye, it’s impossible for her to name them all. She’s also not interested in trying to. As handy with a paintbrush as she is with an ink pen, Hyun Ye switches from style to style based on what she feels like drawing that day.
 

Check out Hyun’s website at: lizyshyun87.blog.me

Follow her on Instagram at: yeseulhyun

Meet The Waffleheads – Bill Cruz @DJGuamstyles

 
“It’s not just fashion, it’s an actual cool little community that we’ve created”
Bill Cruz is one of the OGs of the Vans collector world. What started off as a hobby turned into a full blown addiction – hundreds of Vans stuffed away in a storage unit near his California home. It opened a world for him that went beyond the fashion; it led to the creation of Under the Palms, a community of other like-minded collectors from around the world.
 

Check out my website at stuckunderthepalms.com

Follow me on Instagram at: @djguamstyles

Meet The Waffleheads – Jayass @jayasscom

 
“I don’t call myself, or think of myself as a collector.”
Jayass has one philosophy in life – if he wants it, he buys it. And over the past ten years, he has come across a lot of things he wants. His home is a happy clash of vintage chairs, gas lanterns, street cats, and a massive wall of Vans. Sometimes you don’t choose collecting, collecting chooses you.

Check out Jayass’s website at jayass.com

Follow him on Instagram at: @jayasscom

Meet The Waffleheads – Penelope Gazin @PenelopeGazin

“Nobody Else is Making What I Want, So I’m Going To Make It.”
For artist Penelope Gazin, customization is second nature. In the spirit of DIY, when she wants something made, she makes it herself – because no else can make the same vision come to life.

Check out Penelope’s website at fashionbrandcompany.com.

Follow her on Instagram at: @penelopegazin

Meet The Waffleheads – Panda Mei @panda_mei

 
“It’s a pair of shoes that has history and meaning.”
As a nontraditional artist, Panda Mei grew up with a foot in both eastern and western cultures. His constant need to try something different led him to bring his two worlds together: combining ceramic sculptures with Vans silhouettes.

Check out Panda Mei’s website at pandamei.com

Follow him on Instagram at: @panda_mei

Meet The Waffleheads – Henry Davies @pillowHeat


“The More Meaning Loaded into a Product, the Better. “
In 1999, Pillow Heat founder Henry Davies kicked off an ambitious goal – to collect every vintage Vans shoe that was made in America. For him, it’s not about the acquisition of the shoe. It’s the hunt, the history, and the meaning loaded into each new find.

Check out Henry’s website at pillowheat.com

Follow him on Instagram at: @pillowheat

Vans Introduces Waffleheads

2019_Brand_Waffleheads_Penelope_Gazin_DSC00223

Vans Calls Upon Collectors Worldwide to Share Their Wafflehead Stories. Meet the Waffleheads.

“We chose to go left when everyone was going right,” shares Bill Cruz, founder of Under The Palms and self-proclaimed OG of the Vans sneaker community. Cruz is one of seven individuals to share their story in Vans’ latest narrative, Waffleheads, which features the voices, passions and collections from a unique subculture created by Vans fans from around the world.

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WAFFLEHEADS Vans Brand Ambassador Campaign Featuring DJ Guamstyles! @vans #waffleheads #OffTheWall


Who knew that what started out as just another brand of sneaker to collect, would grow into something as big and impactful, as what my friends and I have built over the past decade. Under The Palms was created as a Vans community gathering place, which slowly turned into a worldwide community, which turned into a culture. All over the world, there are now pockets of Vans collecting communities, with their own branding and names, and it’s growing each day. The more I learned about Vans’ heritage, I found that their same values of being original, authentic, and different, are ideals that so many others around the globe also believe in. So when my friends at Vans reached out to me to learn about collecting Vans, I was more than happy to introduce them to my long list of friends, but they wanted to hear it from me instead, and so here I am as one of the selected Vans Brand Ambassadors for 2019, representing the worldwide Vans sneaker collecting community, who are being dubbed #waffleheads. I hope I’ve represented us properly, and in a way that can speak for us all. We chose to go left, when everybody was going right!

Please feel free to share this video on as many platforms as you possibly can.  Not for me, but for all of us.  I’ve always wanted Vans to recognize us all, and to find a way to connect with their Vans sneaker collecting community, similar in how Sole Collector did with Nike.  I want this campaign to reach all over the world, to show our strength in numbers.  I promise to do my work and try to bring more of you on this journey, to tell some of your stories as well.  It’s more than just buying sneakers.  Oh and by the way, I’m actually from Glendora, not Ventura.  I guess that sounded more glamorous, lol?  Check out the rest of the waffleheads over at https://www.vans.com/waffleheads.

#OffTheWall