Vans Hosts Girls Skate Jam Featuring Performances by The Kills at House of Vans in Brooklyn and Chicago

Vans, the original ACTION SPORTS brand and icon of creative expression, will host the lastest skate clinic, Girls Skate Jam, on May 18 at House of Vans in Brooklyn and May 19 at House of Vans in Chicago. The events will celebrate the culture of skateboarding as Vans aims to inspire and encourage women of all ages to get on a board and skate. To further showcase the power of skateboarding, The Kills will travel to each event for a special performance.

Skateboarding is an amazing way to get girls and women to be more confident, push their limits, and discover what they are capable of. Girls Skate Jam invites women to show off their skills or learn something new at each House of Vans location from 5:00pm to 7:30pm. The event will feature members of New York City-based skateboard collective TheSkate Kitchen including Nina Moran, who has previously hosted the TedTalk "Girls Belong in The (Skate) Kitchen." In addition to the Girls Skate Jam, House of Vans will host an outdoor street market with female vendors and an ongoing art installation by Robin Eisenberg - one of the first females to ever collaborate with Thrasher Magazine. From 8:00pm to 10:00pm, doors to the House of Vans will re-open for a live performance by The Kills.

For a decade and a half, through five albums and four EPs, The Kills aka Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince, have mastered an engaging and thrilling balance between classic songwriting and the artful detonation of those songs through voice and guitar on the live stage. The Kills released their album Ash & Ice in 2016, andmost recently the band re-wired the circuits of Saul Williams' "List of Demands (Reparations)." In an interview with NME, vocalist Alison Mosshart explains that, "I got into music through skateboarding. I lived next door to these teenagers when I was really little, and they were always out on their half-pipe with this boombox, and I was fing obsessed with it." This eventually lead her to start her first band with her skateboarding friends.

Inspired by the young women of Vans' lasted campaign, "Girls Skate India", clinics and skate jams have been scheduled around the world in effort to encourage and enable women through skateboarding. "Girls Skate India" is an emotional narrative set in India that shows female skateboarders inspiring the next generation through skateboarding and D.I.Y. spot building, activities that are often considered unorthodox for girls in many areas across the globe. Featuring Vans athletes Lizzie Armanto and Atita Verghese, "Girls Skate India" shows how Indian girls gain confidence through skateboarding and highlights how a nontraditional activity provides an outlet for them to express themselves. Vans has mobilized around the world to teach women and girls how to skateboard through a series of global skate clinics -inviting women to learn something new alongside their peers and together inspire a new wave of women's skateboarding progression. From experts to beginners, Vans welcomes everyone to these clinics and encourages the emerging women's skate community to come together and celebrate creativity. Visit vans.com/girlskateevents to learn more.

About Vans

Vans®, a VF Corporation (NYSE: VFC) brand, is the original ACTION SPORTS footwear, apparel and accessories brand. Vans authentic collections are sold globally in 84 countries through a network of subsidiaries, distributors and international offices. Vans also owns and operates more than 600 retail locations around the world. The Vans brand promotes the ACTION SPORTS lifestyle, youth culture and creative self-expression through the support of athletes, musicians and artists and through progressive events and platforms such as the Vans Park Series, Vans Triple Crown of Surfing®, the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing, Vans Pool Party, Vans Custom Culture, Vans Warped Tour®, and Vans' cultural HUB and international music venue, House of Vans.