Vans Public Offering Brings in $43 Million : Capital: The sneaker maker’s sale of 4.1 million stock shares raised cash to retire debt. The company plans to expand its Orange operation.

The company that brought sneaker manufacturing to Orange County, Vans Inc., has completed an initial public offering that raised $43 million for the company, its principal stockholder said Monday.

Vans, which has been making distinctive canvas and rubber tennis shoes here since 1966, sold 4.1 million shares. About 3.1 million shares were sold by the company and another 1 million by non-management shareholders. The initial offering price was $14 a share, said a spokeswoman for McCown De Leeuw & Co., a venture banking firm based in Menlo Park, which owns about 31% of Vans as a public company.

The stock, which gained $1 in its first trading day Friday, closed unchanged on the Nasdaq Monday at $15 a share.

In addition to the shares already sold, McCown De Leeuw has said that it plans to sell an additional 615,000 shares if requested by the underwriters, Montgomery Securities in San Francisco and Salomon Brothers Inc. in New York.

Vans has said that about $4.6 million of the offering will be used to repay senior bank debt owed to Security Pacific National Bank. The balance will be used to redeem subordinated debentures, a large portion of which is owned by McCown De Leeuw and Vans Chairman George E. McCown.

Vans is presently producing about 86,250 pairs of shoes a week at its Orange plant. In order to meet production, the company plans to expand its work force and warehouse, according to its prospectus.

The company lost $236,000, equal to 20 cents a share, in the fiscal year ended May 31, which contrasts with net earnings of $263,000 in fiscal 1990. The company had $70.2 million in sales last fiscal year, a 29% increase over $54.4 million the previous year.

A wave of counterfeit Vans shoes put a damper on sales, particularly in Mexico, an important market for Vans, according to the company. The counterfeiting problem reportedly stopped after a crackdown by the Mexican government, although Vans officials say they believe that the problem could reoccur.

A network of 67 company-owned stores sold $21.4 million worth of Vans shoes in the year ended May 31, a 16% improvement over the $18.5 million those stores sold in the previous fiscal year. More than two-thirds of Vans’ revenue comes from sales to other retailers and direct distribution. While the company credited the increase largely to opening of 10 stores during fiscal 1991, sales at stores open more than 24 months were up 6%.