Are you insane? Ever heard of Half Cabs those have always been popular since they came out? Vans never ducked out of skating, they popularity waned because of completion from Etnies, and non-skate brands that lots of people skated. But watch a skate video from any era and you will see somebody wearing Vans.
i'm not insane, but thanks for the concern.
in 1984 vans went bankrupt.
in 1991 they were acquired by
mccown, de leeuw & co who promptley floated them on the stock market.
in 2004 they were then bought out by
vf outdoors inc, who you can invest in at the princley sum of US$91.58 a share.
now people are trying to make the argument that somehow vans are better than nike because they've been making skateshoes longer. the main argument of the nike naysayers is usually that they're an evil corporation blah blah blah and are trying to buy into a culture/scene/whatever they have no part being in because they're not skateboarders. or something. it's hard to tell cos most people making the argument are oafs.
but at any rate, it is quite clear that since 1991 vans was no longer under it's original ownership and was actually a part of a (*gasp!) corporation.
all i'm saying is that the nike sucks argument is redundant.
and that i'm wearing a pair of vans right now.