I don't get people skating Vans unless you're really young.
Pros were ok-ish but they lasted very little, sure the skate ones fixed that but now they feel like crap.
I totally understand the dislike for Vans shoes and often tell people there are way better, longer lasting or other options in different brands, but I would never wear anything else nowdays (at almost fifty in a couple of years) but it does come with a cost.
The main thing for me is how I know exactly what they feel like, exactly how they will perform every single time, can put on a new pair from day one (after I have modified them to how I like them) and they are pretty much perfect from the first session, through to the last session, with only a bit of super glue on stitches or a little shoe goo on high wear areas.
More often than not I prefer the classic / stiffer versions of shoes I wear a lot, strip out the glued in insole, angle grind round the bottom edge, mainly just taking the white trim off and giving the gum a slight angle, put in modified pro insoles with cardboard "orthotic like fit" and they are perfect - from Half Cabs, Old Skools, Era, Authentic and the Sk8 low, mid or hi, along with some others I have, all those in pro versions and others like the 112 pro, but yes the pro versions are so soft and more prone to blowing out and the vulc trim coming away from the sole or the shoe upper.
People look at me funny when I explain what I do to a pair of shoes before I wear them, but that is ok. I know I am all kinds of weird like that, but from doing this for so long, it is pretty easy and not at all difficult for me to do.
Trying to wear in any other brand or option of shoe is what makes me go mad and causes great difficulty, so I will take what I know and love every time, even with the little bit of extra work I have to put in to get them just right.
Even the AVE shoe, or some of the Vans cup options are a hard no for me, but would work better for a lot of people who need more support or a more solid shoe. Tried them and within a day or so, my ankles, knees and feet are killing me, so it is this not so simple vulc shoe combination that I keep up with and this is all I wear, to skate, to work, to go shopping, etc.
I also have a few pairs of the new Skate range - Old Skools, Sk8 low and something else, but haven't worn them much at all as I can't modify them as easily and tried wearing them more as is, then put them back in their boxes to try again later and have never got them back out.
Got way too many pairs of normal shoes still to go though, so not a worry there.