Von Dutch: More Than Just a Name

This article was written for an issue of last years Keystone. I'm not sure it's as relevant as it was then seeing as how the fashion has not been as noticable -- to me anyways -- this year, but I liked the article.

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Von Dutch more than just a name
By Dale Wilsey

One of the most influential movements in custom car making history is being defaced by capitalists looking to make a buck. And it makes me sick.

Von Dutch isn't about clothing, hats and money hungry fools-it's about a man who revolutionized custom car and motorcycle work.

Ever since I was a kid the custom car culture has been part of my life-from early rat rods to the high-end customs turned out by master fabricator Chip Foose. Recently though, fashion designers have taken a name from this culture and turned it into a money-making ploy of which hardly anyone knows the history. I speak of motorcycle mechanic and master pinstriper Kenneth Howard, also known as Von Dutch.

Following his death in 1992, Howard's daughters Lisa and Lorna sold his name and imagery to Michael Cassel, a maker of surf clothing in California, who established a company under the name Von Dutch Originals in 1999. By 2003, the company was doing $33 million in sales. The Von Dutch name has been slapped on everything from hats to handbags to custom motorcycles and even energy drinks. This has been done with almost no acknowledgement to the actual man who bore the name Von Dutch.


Von Dutch is a historical man in the Kustom Kulture, an all-encompassing term used to describe the artwork. The vehicles, the hairstyles and the fashions of those who drove and built custom cars and motorcycles in the United States from the 1950s through today are being disgraced by Cassel and his enterprise. Howard is considerd one of the fathers of the Kustom Kulture along with many other figures like Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, who drew inspiration from Von Dutch.

Although revered for his art and contribution to the Kulture, Von Dutch had a dark and very angry side to his life as well. Von Dutch was a stubborn man, an alcoholic and a racist. He alienated his family and customers and lived in a California city bus, which doubled as a machine shop, for a good portion of his life.

Even though he was described as a pain by many who knew him, he was revered for his contributions, such as the flying eyeball, one of the most recognized logos in the Kustom Kulture. For pinstripers, Von Dutch is the one person most responsible for the existence of the craft.

Howard once said of money:

"I make a point of staying right at the edge of poverty. I don't have a pair of pants without a hole in them, and the only pair of boots I have are on my feet. I don't mess around with unnecessary stuff, so I don't need much money. I believe it's meant to be that way. There's a 'struggle' you have to go through, and if you make a lot of money it doesn't make the 'struggle' go away. It just makes it more complicated. If you keep poor, the struggle is simple," said Howard.

It's kind of funny. A man who had a bus seat for a bed and owned nothing more than he needed is pulling in millions with just his name.

Well, he's not. But his name is.









Kenneth Howard's bus in which he lived and worked.