The shoe is on the same foot for ECCO and Design School Kolding
Last, collars, upper leather and outer soles: words that sound like music to a shoe designer. Only one place in Denmark uses these terms in education – Design School Kolding, which is home to the country’s only training programme for shoe designers. The school organised the programme in close collaboration with shoe producers ECCO, whose headquarters are less than an hour away from Kolding. The partners first arranged a working relationship in 2011 and has now extended the agreement with a new three-year partnership deal.
”To a multinational business like ECCO, which has deep Southern Jutland roots, it’s important that we have Danish-educated designers on our teams and because of our collaboration with Design School Kolding we are also able to spot some of the greatest new talent” said CEO for ECCO Holding A/S, Steen Borgholm.
ECCO is among the world leaders in quality shoe production. The company’s success is built on quality leather, on innovative technology and not least on great design, so the partnership extension also has Jakob Møller Hansen, Vice President of Research & Development with ECCO and responsible for the daily collaboration with the school, in jubilant mood. ”It’s great for us to be able to impact future designers and it’s plain to see how our work with the young designers has bolstered the ECCO brand in the creative sector”.
All parties benefit
Design School Kolding Rector Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen is delighted with the extension of the partnership, which means that the school is able to carry on with its shoe design course for bachelor students. That project has resulted in a deeper understanding of the aspects that are particular to shoe design and which open up new future job opportunities for students.
”We are proud to offer the only Danish shoe design programme and our partnership agreement with ECCO is wholly unique. It gives the students the best available knowledge of materials, design and construction because they learn directly from some of the industry’s mainstays. Conversely I am certain that ECCO will gain a lot of inspiration from the sometimes quite far-out propositions and concepts the students come up with during the course. In this way the partnership benefits all parties because it creates interesting new growth opportunities for the industry down the line” she concludes.
Partnership agreement facts:
- The aim is to support Design School Kolding’s education, research and design development in the field of footwear and to contribute to ECCO’s design development.
- The purpose is to generate knowledge on material opportunities, designing and constructing shoes.
- One annual bachelor level shoe design course.
- Internship agreements.
The partnership agreement runs for the next three years.
About ECCO
ECCO is among the world’s leading producers of quality shoes combining style and comfort. The company built its success on design, quality leather and innovative technology. As one of few businesses in the industry ECCO owns the entire value chain from their own shoe factories and tanneries to shoe shops. ECCO is one of the world’s leading producers of quality leather, which is used in ECCO shoes and ECCO leather goods like bags, belts and purses. In addition ECCO produces leather for several leading luxury brands. ECCO products are sold in 87 countries from 3300 ECCO shops and shop-in-shops. ECCO is family owned, founded in Denmark 1963 and employs more than 19000 people.