0 The History of Ecco Shoes

The History of Ecco Shoes
By Horace Tait

Ecco Shoes

Ecco are a Danish shoe manufacturer that has been producing footwear for almost fifty years. As well as ecco shoes it is also possible to obtain other ecco leather products and accessories. Ecco are also unique in that unlike other major shoe manufacturers they control through ownership and management, their entire production process from farming the cows for leather to putting the shoes together.

It was in 1963 when Karl Toosbury established ecco in the town of Bredebro in Denmark. Toosbury's vision was to make ecco shoes a combination of the latest, innovative footwear technology, traditional footwear craftsmanship and also to create shoes that were designed around the foot and the way it functions.

It was fifteen years however before ecco received any serious recognition within the footwear industry. Three shoes styles the "Joke", "Free" and "Time" were the first to gain recognition from other manufacturers, particularly due to their comfort. Additionally these were the first shoes ever that used the manufacturers logo imprinted into the sole. The Joke, Free and Time styles continue to be popular today and to date have sold around eight million pairs worldwide.

The next big step was to expand from its small Danish base to achieve a more international footing. In 1982 ecco achieved a landmark, selling one million pairs of shoes in a year, a serious achievement that led to the opening of other production plants in other countries to cope with this increasing demand.

As with many businesses reaching a large size, ecco then had to diversify their products. Subsequently the 1990s saw a host of new ranges including children's shoes and golf shoes. Greater diversification was achieved by the building of a research centre in Denmark and also a tannery in Thailand. By the turn of the century ecco had purchased all of the elements of their production process to ensure complete control over their products, a flagship store was also opened in London's Oxford Street.

Ecco Shoes

Since this time ecco have shrewdly enhanced the reputation of their sports shoes by creating significant publicity around their BIOM shoe concepts and also the sponsorship or golf professional Fred Couples during the 2010 Masters.

Today ecco shoes are a major footwear manufacturer in their own right, now ecco shoes are sold around the world in over ninety different countries with the company (if you will excuse the pun) having a foothold in disparate geographical markets such as Asia, Central Europe and the United States.

Within the world there are few footwear companies that have made such an effort to ensure the comfort of their customers, ecco shoes manufacture a range of comfortable, leisure and professional shoes as well as sports and golfing footwear.

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