I got into contact with Marcel as a result of his love for distinctive shoes. Marcel wore so many different shoes, he actually needed us to serve as his private shoe factory. Marcel thoroughly engrained himself in our company's culture by bringing our shoes to centre stage every evening for an entire summer. In his talk show 'Villa Vanthilt', Marcel and his guest would both lie in a lounge chair during the last interview. The camera was placed by their feet, which made the soles of the shoes the most prominent element of the shot. We sent him dozens of fresh pairs with coloured soles. At the end of summer, our Flemish dealers started to put the shoes upside-down in their shop windows because it had become such an iconic thing.

All in all reason enough to surprise Marcel with his very own sneaker. The idea had been on the back burner for years, until we saw leather with bristly grey hair when visiting one of our suppliers. The penny dropped right there and then. With the hairy leather and a little pair of rubber glasses, we created a portrait of Marcel on the back of a sneaker. He appreciated the joke, and even suggested to create a limited edition, the proceedings of which would go to 'Kom op tegen kanker', a non-profit that fights for a cancer-free world.

When asked why he had himself portraited by a shoemaker, Marcel answered: "It's like lightning striking, it's a storm howling over the seas, the gunpowder within me, the fireworks that overheat me. This is part of the lyrics from the song 'Baslijnbrein' from my latest album 'CA$HCA$H'. And that's how I view Floris van Bommel's shoe designs: unexpected, sharp, and exciting!"