When we think of iconic logos, a few usual suspects come to mind; Nike’s swoosh, McDonald’s golden arches, or maybe the glowing sign above your favorite late-night kebab spot.
But the Vans logo? Turns out it’s been hiding a genius twist in plain sight, and people are only just catching on.
While most brand logos have some kind of clever design or subtle message (like Amazon’s arrow that stretches from A to Z, hinting they sell everything under the sun), Vans takes it a step further, unintentionally.
Yep, the legendary skatewear brand’s logo wasn’t born in a slick design studio, but from a surprisingly wholesome origin, according to Indy100.
The distinctive “V” that extends over the rest of the word “Vans”? It’s not just stylish, it’s a mathematical symbol.
More specifically, it’s the square root sign. If you’ve ever crammed for a maths exam, you might get a déjà vu.
The “√ANS” essentially spells out “the square root of answer,” which many fans now interpret as a quirky, low-key way of saying Vans is the answer, Creative Bloq writes.
Here’s the wild part: this wasn’t some overengineered branding stunt. The original version of the logo was drawn by the son of Vans co-founder James Van Doren.
He had sketched it to decorate a skateboard deck, but his dad saw potential and slapped it on the heel of a shoe, and the rest is sneaker history, per All Sole.
But wait, there's a second layer to the math-nerd coolness. The square root symbol is also known as a radical, a word that just so happens to be synonymous with “awesome” in skate culture, especially in the ‘90s and early 2000s. Whether intentional or not, it’s a perfect fit for a brand that lives on the edge.
Once this mind-bending revelation hit social media, fans were stunned.
“Someone told me the Vans logo looks like a math equation & now that’s all I see,” one person tweeted in disbelief.
“Something about the Vans logo makes me wanna do maths, man,” joked another.
The fun fact even made the rounds on TikTok, with one user posting: “I was today years old when I realized the Vans logo is the square root of the answer [...].” The top reply? “Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.”
So next time you lace up your Vans, just remember, you’re not just rocking a classic look. You’re basically wearing algebra on your feet. Radical, right?