If you’ve ever played a logo guessing game, chances are you recognized the Vans logo instantly. However, it may carry a hidden meaning you might not have noticed.
The American apparel brand has been around since 1966, which means it has been nearly 60 years—feeling old yet? It’s no surprise that its logo is globally recognized alongside those of Apple, Disney, and Facebook.
Recently, some fans have begun to scrutinize the label and believe it has a deeper significance than it initially appears.
At first glance, the Vans logo is straightforward, clearly stating ‘VANS’ and leaving no ambiguity about the brand it represents.
The logo is red, with the right-hand line of the V extending over the other letters, contributing to its recognizability.
However, fans have speculated that the elongated right arm of the V might carry additional meaning.
If you didn’t completely abandon math as soon as you could in school, you might notice that the V in the Vans logo resembles the square root symbol, with a line extending from what looks like a small v.
If this connection eludes you, some mathematically-inclined TikTok users have pointed it out, noting that the ‘square root’ is also known as a ‘Radical’.
Now picture a skater in Vans, with his pinky and thumb up in the air, shouting ‘radicaallll’. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence, does it?
The hidden meaning goes further, as internet users have shown with the help of a calculator that the Vans logo matches the equation for ‘the square root of answer’.
On a calculator, this appears as ‘√ANS’.
One astounded Twitter user responded to this realization: ‘once you see it, you can’t unsee it’.
Another shocked individual commented, “Noooooooooooooo,” while a third created an elaborate scenario involving Vans and the math equation on Reddit: “So this is the scenario I thought up when I realized this.
“A guy walks into a Vans store. The guy at the counter asks him what his favourite type of shoe is, and he blatantly says “Vans!” The guy at the counter can then say ‘Radical Answer, bro’ and not sound stupid.”
Despite the support for this theory, the resemblance to the equation does not appear to be intentional.
According to the Logo My Way blog, the iconic Vans logo dates back to the company’s early days after its inception in 1966.
The original logo was created by the son of one of the brand’s founders, who initially intended to paint it on a skateboard. When his father James Van Doren saw the design, he decided to place it on the heel of one of the company’s shoe designs.
This decision marked the beginning of Vans’ large-scale production of skateboarding footwear, a successful venture that continues to this day.