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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporterMar 7, 2024, 03:59 PM ET
CloseRyan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.
Meet Frank Vatrano. All-Star forward. Three-time 20-goal scorer. Budding shoe designer.
Well, sort of.
Vatrano, along with Lukas Dostal and the now-departed Adam Henrique, who was traded to the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday, were among the Anaheim Ducks players who have an affinity for shoes. That detail happened to slip when someone from the Ducks’ marketing department met with someone from the famed Vans skateboard shoe company.
That person was Steve van Doren. He’s the vice president of events and promotions of Vans, a company that was founded by his dad and uncle.
It led to van Doren extending an invitation to the Ducks to have players such as Vatrano, Dostal and Henrique take a tour of their corporate headquarters. One of the incentives Vans provided was that they could each design their own shoes.
“When you get these guys and put them in a room with leather and all these ideas, they didn’t know which way to go,” Van Doren said of the Ducks’ visit last summer. “The longest I had ever seen anyone look at shoelaces was these hockey players.”
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Knowing the players were so invested in making custom shoes led to the Ducks and Vans doing something together. That is what opened the door for the Ducks to collaborate with Vans in creating a 30th anniversary limited edition shoe line that was officially unveiled Thursday.
The collaboration, known as Vans X Ducks, is believed to be the first for any NHL team. Van Doren said it’s also the first time Vans has done a collaboration with any professional team.
Ultimately, the end product became a three-shoe collection. The first shoe, titled “Legacy,” was designed from the Vans’ Sk8-Hi Premium Leather shoe line. It’s a design that incorporates the jade, plum and silver scheme the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim wore from 1993 to 2006, when they went through a brand and name redesign. On the back of the legacy shoe, known…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39674208/anaheim-ducks-vans-team-design-shoe-collection
Author : Ryan S. Clark
Publish date : 2024-03-07 21:00:07
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