Vans is celebrating Checkerboard Day for the second year running: a global initiative that focuses on the power of creative expression from the iconic checkerboard print. This special edition focuses on the artistic escape from a reality engulfed by stress and anxiety. The skatewear brand thus promotes the essential role of creativity in maintaining well-being and mental balance in a cathartic context. Art is now the antidote.
The experimentation of OG skaters in sneaker customization processes in the 70s, with square motifs that evoked the checkerboard effect, became an idea that Steve Van Doren would materialize in an eternal print. But also on a date to remember. November 19th, or Checkerboard Day, is already the day when Vans off the Wall blurs the boundaries between the artistic and the conceptual to encourage creativity and imagination in young people. That same day and the ones that surround it.
POWER TO THE YOUTH
This year of emotional chaos and anxiety, in which we dream in a loop of the arrival of a new mood, has fully infected our health and mental well-being. This is why VANS has decided to donate one million dollars to various charities that address this priority issue.
The VF Corporation brand will provide $100,000 to each of these international organizations to charge for the mental health of young people around the world through creativity. The list of beneficiaries includes Campaign Against Living Miserably, The Wave Project and The Ben Raemers Foundation, Get Lit-Words Ignite, The Skatepark Project, Arte Por La Vida, Social Skate, Singapore Association for Mental Health, Buku Jalanan Chow Kit, and World of Art Brut Culture.
In addition to the donation, fans will also be able to support organizations by helping to raise extra funds. How? By buying a limited edition Checkerboard Day T-shirt or Authentic shoes designed by renowned artist and brand ambassador Geoff McFetridge. All proceeds will be managed through The Vans Checkerboard Fund at Tides Foundation.
A COMMUNITY UNITED BY CREATIVITY
«We have spent much of the year apart, which has been quite hard for us. However, despite the physical and psychological isolation, we are and will always be part of the Vans Family, a family forever connected by creativity», says Doug Palladini, Global President of Vans.
In addition to the charity collection, the VANS crew has promoted various virtual initiatives to encourage artistic self-expression to escape from anxiety. Because mental health is the most important thing, and what better than art to stimulate fantasy.
“Doing creative stuff makes you feel good”
Among the projects, we can find TikTok’s challenge #VansCheckerboardDay and the opportunity to listen to the experiences of several ambassadors of global firms such as Tony Hawk, Anderson Paak, or Yaya Zahir. They will talk about how their own forms of creative expression have helped them to remain stable and to make themselves noticed along the way.
To discover this new ethical and aesthetic universe, go to the VANS CHECKERBOARD DAY website, where you will find all the products related to this special and essential day, as well as more information about charities or donations.
ENJOY THE RIDE THROUGH THE CHECKERBOARD.
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