ECCO Shoes

Background

Founded in Denmark by Karl Toosbuy in 1963, ECCO Shoes is a leading global brand in the design and production of footwear and leather accessories. ECCO is the only major shoe company that owns the value chain from grass to foot – that is they breed their own cattle, own the tanneries that provide the leather and operate their own production and retail facilities.

Opportunity

The design team at ECCO functions across five Divisions – Formal, Casual, Kids, Sport and Golf. Ensuring good communication between the different design teams requires alignment around a vision for design for the business.

Outcome

A series of on-going strategy workshops with the design leadership team has seen the development of an internal Design Manifesto which supported alignment of agendas, the building of shared language and the identification of opportunities for improvement in processes and connectivity across the business. R&D and ECCO Accessories (based in Switzerland) were also engaged in the process. Further work has included whole-team strategy workshops as well as on-going alignment of design strategy in pursuit of brand evolution and growth.