In early 2005, we introduced the very first Floris van Bommel sneaker line. It’s hard to imagine now, more than 20 years later, but in the early 2000s, sneakers designed by a non-sports brand were a novelty. People liked wearing sneakers, but these were all functional sports shoes from big brands. One journalist disparagingly referred to our sneaker as an ‘office sneaker’, just to point out that it was weird for a classic shoe brand to make sneakers.

We thought it a good idea to advertise the new sneaker line in a big way. It was the perfect opportunity to make a statement. Commercials on TV seemed like a good idea. However, our budget was nowhere near enough for the big mainstream TV channels. Fortunately, a bundle of commercials on music channels MTV, The Box and TMF would work. To make a statement, we chose the brightest colour as our campaign shoe. We had clean white, quiet grey and stylish brown sneakers, but we went for bright green. All or nothing! We also figured that if we were going to spend so much money, it'd be good to highlight once more that we’re a family business with real people. So, a script was devised for the commercial that illustrated a day in my life. I ran errands, cycled a bit, sat on the sofa with friends, went to the pub, staggered back home and.... emptied my stomach into a canal from a drawbridge. When all that was done, I dared to suggest that I could record my own song as a soundtrack. This would be cool for the story! I had been messing around with music in my attic as a hobbyist for years, this seemed like the perfect excuse to finally get into a real studio.

(Image above: Campaign photo of the first Floris van Bommel sneaker.)

Once everything was done, our representatives were sent out with a rather tricky story: “We have a bright green sneaker, which we’re going to advertise on MTV and TMF, Floris stars in the commercial puking from a bridge and playing loud rock music.” It wasn't easy at first to sell that story.... ‘We don't sell sneakers’, ‘Green is a colour that doesn’t sell, we've never sold a single pair’, ‘You're ruining your image as a manufacturer of quality products’, ‘My Van Bommel customers won’t like this one bit’, ‘People who watch MTV don't visit our shop’. During the selling season, things were moving anyway. People from the shoe business were curious, people talked about it and eventually, quite a few of our dealers were up for a bit of adventure.

(Image above: The first Floris van Bommel sneaker collection.)

To everyone's surprise, the sneakers sold like hotcakes. Our sneakers were the hit of the season. The green version quickly sold out everywhere and our dealers maintained waiting lists for when another batch was produced. Since that first sneaker line, there have always been sneakers in our collection. Over the years, we’ve continued to evolve by trial and error. Now, more than 20 years later, more than half of all the shoes we sell are sneakers.

(Image below: The first Floris van Bommel sneaker was also available for women.)

(Video below: The first Floris van Bommel sneaker commercial.)