Men’s Comfort

MEN’S COMFORT: ECCO

Lean and Clean

LEANING INTO CONSUMER trends sparked by the pandemic, Ecco strategically tweaked its offerings while continuing to focus on its core strengths in 2021. The Scandinavian comfort brand updated one of its main men’s dress lines with new silhouettes and comfort technology in anticipation of the category bouncing back when people began returning to offices. And with consumer appetites for casual outdoor shoes showing no sign of letting up, Ecco developed a new active men’s line to fill a gap in its offerings.

Focusing on what it does best while making adjustments for evolving consumer habits helped propel the shoemaker to strong sales in its core dress and casual categories in the second half of the year, says Felix Zahn, director of merchandising planning and allocation for Ecco, which is marking its fourth straight Plus Award win in the Men’s Comfort category. —Bernadette Starzee

All things considered, how was business in 2021? When entering 2021 it was already clear to us that it would not be a normal year again. There simply have been too many changes initiated by the pandemic, to which a complex industry like ours cannot quickly react. Consumer behavior and preferences have dramatically changed, impacting our own points of distribution and our business partners. We all saw a disappointing first quarter driven by reduced and regulated traffic in most parts of the country. But with vaccines being rolled out and warmer temperatures arriving, we saw a steady pickup in business beginning in Q2. Business really got better in the second half of the year when the reopening of the economy. Core Ecco categories such as casual and dress made a strong comeback for us in the second half, and we also saw continued growth in our outdoor and golf segments, which both remain at much higher levels than pre-pandemic. However, with the emergence of the Delta and Omicron variants in late 2021, we faced new challenges again.

Felix Zahn, director of merchandising/planning

How did you adjust your products when you realized it would be another

abnormal year? Our aim for 2021 really was to focus on our strengths, essentials and our base. When it comes to men’s, we predicted that dress shoes would eventually make a comeback in the back half of the year. Therefore, we updated one of our most core products, the Helsinki franchise. Our new Helsinki 2 is based on the original idea, however now with an updated last shape, featuring modernized new silhouettes and a new comfort fit technology.

Secondly, we predicted that many consumer lifestyle changes the pandemic has brought upon us would continue to last, including a more local, outdoor lifestyle. Our team identified a gap in our collection here and, as a result, introduced a new product franchise named MX, which stands for ‘motocross.” Hence, the rather aggressive outsole profile. It’s a lightweight, multifunctional, everyday outdoor sneaker that guys can take on the trail or just for a casual walk with the dog. Our MX collection comes in many different silhouettes and executions.

What other notable brand initiatives did you introduce in 2021? We focused even more on sustainability. A core part of our DNA is making our own leather, and one area we are heavily focusing on is water efficiency. We have heavily rolled out our DriTan leather technology in our collections. Besides saving huge amounts of water, the technology considerably reduces the amount of chemicals used and lowers the wastewater production. In addition, we use surplus leathers in our shoes, are conscious in our design process and have streamlined the portfolio, in order to utilize all our materials to reduce surplus and waste.

What was the biggest surprise of the year? How well we continue to work together and have adapted as a big global company, despite all the challenges the pandemic has thrown us. Most of our meetings, workshops and daily work have been facilitated remotely. The product development process, which for decades has been hands-on, has been streamlined and largely digitalized.

How did supply chain woes

impact Ecco? Supply chain issues were definitely front and center in 2021 and continue to bug us. Fortunately, we own our own tanneries and factories, giving us more control over that part of the supply chain. Here we have done everything possible to keep our factories open while guaranteeing the safety and well-being of our employees. For example, Ecco led the vaccination efforts in many of our factories, especially in Asia, providing early vaccine access to our workers and their families. In addition to keeping our factories open, we have optimized shipping routes and prioritized certain product categories over others.

The new MX collection: ideal for trail and coffee runs.

How would you grade your team’s overall performance navigating these

unprecedented challenges? The team has done a hell of a job and fought for every single pair in 2021. We’ve grown together much stronger as a company. For instance, due to short staffing, employees from various areas of the business have helped out in our warehouses and stores.