I’m usually not such a big fan of shoe websites that are heavy on Flash… and I particularly think it’s poor usability practice to make the actual NAVIGATION in Flash. Hello, what happens if you are blocking it (as many Firefoxers are)?

But there are a few places where I’ll grudgingly make exceptions, and the Vans Custom Shoe Builder is one of them. This is just a very fun and useful app that makes use of Flash technology in a simple way that actually appeals to the people who come to shop for Vans. And yeah, I do have an old soft spot for Vans, so this was great.

The application basically lets you choose the colors for every aspect of your custom Vans (you can customize either the “Old Skool” model or the standard “Slipon”), including the tongue/vamp, bindings, foxing, linings, etc. The picture above shows a screenshot of what the Vans Slipon customization looks like.

In order to try the app out (I didn’t want to type in the crazy long URI they have), go to shop.vans.com and click on “Customs” in the top navigation. Choose from Custom Old Skool or Custom Slip-on, and then click “Customize Now” after the page loads. Next, you have to pick your gender, size and quantity, and then click on “continue building”. There’s the app… it’s pretty self explanatory how to mess with it.

I should mention that Custom Vans prices are NOT cheap. The Slipon is $50 and the Old Skool Vans are $60! Still, if you REALLY want a special color combo and you don’t want to paint your shoes yourself, this is probably the ticket for you.