September 18, 2021
HOW WP STORE BROUGHT VANS TO ITALY
The history of streetwear is full of insights that are only apparently random, but in reality dictated by an intense search for innovation, for revolutionary ideas capable of changing the rules of the game. On opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, in California and in Italy, and less than twenty years apart, two one of a kind enterprises were started which found common ground in the idea of quality and democracy of design – they were Vans, the iconic footwear brand made in California, and WP Lavori in Corso, the first Italian retailer to introduce them to the country in the mid-1980s.
But first a little history: the Van Doren brothers opened the first Van Doren Rubber Company store, later renamed Vans, in 1966 in Anaheim, California. One of the original sneakers they sold in the Anaheim location was the Vans # 44 Authentic, the brand's first iconic shoe, which already at that time featured the equally legendary Waffle Sole. From 1966 to today the silhouette has remained practically unaltered, reinterpreted in hundreds of colors and materials, but never completely changed, proof of how timeless its design was.
When, in 1982, Giuseppe and Cristina Calori decided to found a one-of-a-kind store, to be the first to bring the new wave of international, youthful, functional and quality design to Italy, it was natural to look to California and its skateboarders. Vans thus became one of the first brands sold by WP Lavori in Corso, exclusively for the Italian market. The brand had all the requisites that WP was looking for: it was international, it embodied a dream and an aspiration, it was endowed with an innovative design but above all, with its own community of aficionados. At the time, Vans was the strongest symbol of the nascent skate aesthetic, of the aspiration for freedom and coolness of entire generations of young people, and just like the dream it represented, it found success not only in its native California, but also in Italy where it achieved a success that is still on-going. Starting from brands such as Vans, WP began to build a composite but coherent image with a plethora of different inspirations and ideas, able to form an aesthetic and culture which had not existed in Italy before then.
