Floris: “In 1995, my father invited me to attend some of their collection meetings. I was 20 and still a student at the TMO in Doorn at the time. The school wanted us to have a side job in fashion, and dutiful as I was, I agreed. During these collection meetings, one topic was regularly discussed, namely that it was very difficult to sell fashionable shoes under the banner of the ‘Van Bommel’ brand. In the past few years, this had been tried several times and each time our dealers simply ignored those fashionable styles, claiming ‘You are known for your classic shoes, that’s what we buy from you. We buy our fashionable shoes from brands that are known for them.’ At that time, we didn't have our own physical store and online shops didn't exist yet, so that's where it ended.

(Image above: The pair of Van Bommel shoes, which was later renamed ‘Floris van Bommel’.)

During one of those collection meetings, three pairs of those unsellable fashionable shoes were put on the table anyway. After some discussion, one of the stylists suggested to rename the shoes. In the fashion world, there are some companies that use a family name as a brand name and then start a separate line with, for instance, the first name of a family member. My father seemed to like the idea. Using his own name, however, was out of the question. He wanted to appeal to young people, and you don't do that by using the name of a 52-year-old. He looked across the table, where I was doodling some snorkels in my notebook. Floris van Bommel! That sounded pretty good. His other options were my older brother Reynier and my younger brother Pepijn. Reynier wouldn’t work because of the complicated old Dutch spelling and Pepijn wasn’t suitable because he was only 16 at the time. My father was hoping anyway that I’d join the company to design the collections, so he was up for it. Right there and then, he decided to rename the shoes ‘Floris van Bommel’.”

(Image above: A typical ad for the classic Van Bommel line.)