Some of you might not be aware, but Vratim is actually a minority owned and operated business! Two of our owners, Nguyễn Thị Bích Ngọc and Thomas Trường Filbert (mother and son respectively), are Vietnamese. Our shoes and some of our other products are even made in Việt Nam too. Additionally, one of our artist reps, Tyler Saczawa, is actually Korean with his birth name being Seung Won Li 승원.

Because of this we wanted to do something special for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month here in the United States. We will be releasing a special new line with 20% of each sale being donated to The John Vietnam Education Fund which provides education for the poor children and college scholarships for the young students in Vietnam.

Check out the new Vratim X APAHM line now!

Below is a letter written by Ngoc, to all of our friends, family, customers, and supporters offering some more insight:

During the Tet Offensive in 1968, the North Vietnamese were taking over my hometown. My grandfather decided it was best that we leave town and go to the safe haven called Con Phung. We left with just the clothes on our back, barely enough money or food, walking all the way, and taking the back roads sometimes ditches. Along the way we met many kind strangers who shared their food and shelter with us. One even gave my grandfather an umbrella to keep him cool under the hot sun. Even though I was a child at the time I've never forgotten their kindness. For some time, I have been thinking of a way to return the kindness back to my countrymen and found this great opportunity to do so.

The war has been over for almost three decades. Viet Nam has rebuilt itself - life for many has improved tremendously, but there are still many more Vietnamese lives in poverty. Some live with no running water, in thatch roof houses, and barely enough food. Most of these people that live in remote cities earn their living by selling anything from food to various merchandise or working as laborers, servers, farm workers, and other various low income jobs. The average income for these people is little more than $100 a month to take care of their family, oftentimes including elderly parents who are living with them. In Viet Nam there is no program to help senior citizens, single mothers, or scholarships for young students to enter college.

Here in the United States, May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. We would like to take this opportunity to help the charity, Children of Vietnam, which began in 1998 by Mr. Ben Wilson and Ms. Luong Thi Huong, two friends who started out bringing food, medicine, clothing, etc. on a scooter to the poor children and their families in the Viet Nam countryside. Today Children of Vietnam is a well established organization providing care for children with disabilities, education, housing, nutrition along with helping single mothers to be self-sufficient. One can even travel with them to Viet Nam and see their program at work!

Part of Children of Vietnam is The John Vietnam Education Fund which provides education for the poor children and college scholarships for the young students. John “Vietnam” Nguyen was a young Vietnamese rapper from Uptown Chicago who passed away in 2012 while saving a friend’s life. John Nguyen spent his life promoting a positive attitude, peace, and inspiring youth to achieve their goal. He also donated the proceeds of his CD sales to the Children of VietNam organization helping the vulnerable Vietnamese children. We are inspired by John’s example and will be donating a portion of the proceeds from these t-shirt sales toward his education fund.


We appreciate your support and thank you for working with us to help those in need!


-Ngoc / The Vratim Team

We hope everyone is staying healthy and safe during these times.

As we all do our best to practice social distancing and staying home, we know that sometimes it's still necessary to go out for essential items like food...and toilet paper. We also know it's been getting more difficult to find masks to wear when going out for essential items.

We were able to purchase some extra masks and will be giving away a mask with each order along with our normal stickers and coupons.

We know it isn't much, but hopefully it comes in handy.
Also, if you don't need the mask, we encourage you to give it to someone else that might need one!
 
Here's to working together so we can all get back to touring, going to shows, and being around friends!



-The Vratim Team

P.S. If you desperately need a mask, please send us a message/email and we'll help as best we can.

We're teaming up with Klarna to offer the smoothest payment options at checkout!
Select Klarna at checkout to split your total purchase into 4 equal installments.
No added interest of fees when you pay on time!

Here's how it works:

1. Add products to your cart and select "Klarna Pay Later" when you check out
   
2. Enter a few personal details and you'll know instantly if you're approved
   
3. Klarna will send you an email confirmation and reminders when it's time to pay
   
4. You can complete your future Klarna purchases with just one click
   

(Full terms of Pay later in 4 interest-free installments. *CA residents: Loans made or arranged pursuant to a California Finance Lenders Las license.)


Some additional information about Klarna:
Pay online of in the app
Review your latest purchases and make payments in the Klarna app or online

• Download the Klarna app
  
• Log in online
  
• Chat with Klarna customer service
  

Safe and secure
With Klarna, you are always covered through Klarna's Buyer Protection policy. Modern safegaurds protect your information to prevent unauthorized purchases

Frequently asked questions
Visit the Klarna FAQ page to find out more about using Klarna.

Hello everyone,

I know this is probably the millionth message you've read like this, so I'll try to make it a little different by offering some insight into our operations and bringing attention to the effects of all that has been happening.

First and foremost we're still conducting business like normal...mostly:

• Being a small, family owned business has its advantages -
  • Having just our family team at our main office/warehouse with Tyler (one of our Artist Reps) and Joe (staff photographer) already working remotely has ensured we can continue operating as normal.
• Orders can and will be shipped as normal for now
• Artist and customer support are still available
• We’ve been practicing social distancing
• We’ve allotted extra time to regularly wash hands and for additional cleaning
• We are eating meals in and doing our best to stay healthy

We will, of course, adapt if the situation changes. We've been discussing and working out how to ensure our business continues uninterrupted.


Personally, I have been practicing additional quarantining as my band was recently on tour in Japan. The tour went very well (and I could go on forever about it) but, we had to leave Japan earlier than expected as the situation changed.


While the daily operations at VRATIM have been mostly unaffected (although we do find ourselves with some extra free time) many of our endorsed artists and industry friends are not in the same position. Most, if not all, tours over the next few months have been postponed or outright cancelled. This includes everything from smaller tours to major, big-name tours. This not only affects the bands/artists, but also the promoters, tour managers, venues, associated venue staff, and even photographers, graphic designers, and recording studios.


During this difficult time, more than ever, it is important to support your favorite artists and venues. Even if you cannot contribute financially, streaming music, sharing your favorite local venue’s GoFundMe, and other simple things like that can be beneficial to those affected.


Hopefully we will all be back at shows and enjoying the company of friends soon.
Please take care of yourself and loved ones.

Steay healthy and stay safe!




-Thomas / The Vratim Team

P.S. If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us

We've brought back our popular white color, but with a twist this time along with some quality improvements.
This is a limited edition color and once it's gone - it's gone!

*Also, we now have free shipping within the US and low flat rate for international orders*

In 2017, we managed to drastically increase our artist roster, move into a proper office/warehouse, and managed to ship a pair of shoes to every continent (except Antarctica). All in all, we're completely blown away and blessed to have accomplished all we have in 2017.

For 2018 we're hoping to further expand! We're going to work on having our shoes retailed elsewhere aside from just our online store, we're going to  strive to grow our artist family more, and we'll try out best to be more interactive with everyone.

We're heard all of your thoughts and feedback about our shoes and everything and just know we are trying our hardest to check off all the items on our list of suggestions.

Thanks so much for the continued support and understanding. We may be a very small company, but we aren't going to let that stop us!

We're excited to announce that one of our endorsed artists, Tyler Saczawa (Born A New), will be taking on some artist representative duties.

Tyler has been working extremely hard over the years not only with Born A New, but also as a booking agent with The Arkham Agency. It's been great watching his band progress to touring across the country as well as seeing all of the musicians Tyler interacts with.

With his help we're hoping to reach out and discover new artists to help further build our artist family!

We are beyond stoked and honored to announce that we will be one of the sponsors for the fall run of dates with Epic Proportions Tour!

EPT has been booking and organizing its own tours since 2011 and brings concerts to high schools, colleges, and military bases across the US. They are an awesome, veteran-owned business that offers free entertainment and education about music and the arts to high schools across the country.

We are excited to be part of their upcoming tour!

Definitely be sure to make it out to one of their stops if you have the opportunity to do so.

Epic Proportions Tour Website
Epic Proportions Tour Facebook
Epic Proportions Tour Twitter
Epic Proportions Tour Instagram

Vic Firth just uploaded a drum play through of Adam Marko playing "Darkness" from his band, Special Providence's, latest album!

There are a few sick shots of our red shoes in the video too... check it out below!