Vans shows fancy footwork on customer engagement

VF Corp.’s footwear, apparel and accessories brand Vans is capitalizing on one of the hottest trends in retail at its 450 stores and online.



The lifestyle brand associated with action sports is tapping into the personalization trends with a national contest designed to resonate with its core customer segment. The Vans Custom Culture competition is designed to give high school students a platform to embrace creative expression while joining a movement to support arts education. Through Feb. 12, high school art teachers can register their school to compete against thousands of other students, creating custom designs using blank Vans shoes as a canvas. Those who register are provided four pairs of blank Vans shoes on which to create designs that represent the four themes of the Vans "Off The Wall" lifestyle including action sports, arts, music and local flavor. The winnings submission receives a $50,000 donation.



"An arts education inspires creative expression and helps prepare students for what's next, which is why Vans believes that today's youth and future generations deserve the Right to Art," said Sarah Crockett, VP of global consumer marketing, Vans. "In the last six years, Vans Custom Culture has inspired hundreds of thousands of U.S. art students to take a stand for arts education and Vans has donated over $500,000 to support arts education."



Vans Custom Culture was founded with the goal of raising awareness of diminishing arts education budgets across the country and the program has grown rapidly since 2010 with only 325 schools participating in the inaugural year. During the 2015 competition nearly 3,000 schools stood alongside Vans to support arts education for all and even more are expected to appeal for their #RightToArt in 2016.



An internal judging panel, including Vans employees, will assist in selecting the top 50 schools to be featured as semi-finalists. Those 50 schools will then be posted online for a public vote on the Vans Custom Culture website from April 27 – May 11, determining the top five schools. The top five finalists will get the opportunity to travel to Los Angeles to showcase their designs at an event to a panel of noted judges.



The overall winners will receive $50,000, but Vans also plans to donate $4,000 each to the four runner-up schools, plus an extra $50,000 to non-profit partner, Americans for the Arts, the nation's leading organization for advancing the arts and art education.