Danish century-old footwear brand shifts strategic focus to high-end outdoor sports segment

At the end of June, ECCO's collaborative capsule collection with the Japanese mountain streetwear brand White Mountaineering made its debut at Paris Fashion Week. The new men's and women's ready-to-wear collection and functional footwear will be launched in August 2025.

This is the third collaboration between ECCO and White Mountaineering. As early as late October last year, the joint capsule series was launched, attracting widespread attention in the market. Many people in the outdoor community believe that, empowered by White Mountaineering, ECCO's urban outdoor apparel system can be said to be "winning at the starting line."

Dive into the blue ocean of outdoor sports.

According to reports, White Mountaineering is a Japanese outdoor apparel brand founded in 2006 by designer Yosuke Aizawa. Over the years, White Mountaineering has been dedicated to merging outdoor sports with fashion, creating a brand new style in fashion.

White Mountaineering is very active in collaborations. In addition to working with ECCO, it has also launched collaborative products with fashion brands such as adidas, UGG, Danner, Wrangler, and MADNESS, which are well-loved by consumers.

ECCO is a Danish casual footwear brand, founded in 1963, and entered the Chinese market in 1997. ECCO has always left Chinese consumers with the impression of being a mid-to-high-end brand with a price point in the thousand-yuan range and a focus on comfort. However, its design style is relatively conservative, making it more popular among middle-aged and older professional men. There are numerous discussions on social media linking it to terms like "dad shoes," "fashion items for middle-aged men," and "government office footwear."

"Ten love walking, nine are rich, and one is just starting." "To do business, you have to travel far; if you want to be rich, wear love walking." Many jokes circulating on social media have turned ECCO into a symbol of success. However, some young people in the comments express confusion about who exactly is wearing these "ugly shoes."

This cognitive dissonance reflects the conflict between ECCO's brand DNA and the changes in consumer generations: as Generation Z sees outdoor activities as a trendy lifestyle, this century-old brand, rooted in "comfortable business," is trying to shake off its "middle-aged" label through collaborations with trendy brands. The explosive growth of the outdoor sports market provides a crucial opportunity for its transformation.

A recent research report released by Dongfang Caifu Securities shows that outdoor sports are gradually becoming more integrated into daily life and popular among the general public. According to data from Xiaohongshu, activities such as city walking, trail running, stream tracing, diving, rock climbing, cycling, and hiking are seeing rapid growth in search volume. In terms of total search volume, yoga, camping, hiking, cycling, and skiing have become popular outdoor sports with high total search volume and a large number of exposure notes.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the China National Garment Association, and Frost & Sullivan, the market size of the high-performance outdoor footwear and apparel market in mainland China is expected to reach 102.7 billion yuan in 2024. Outdoor apparel leads the industry in growth, with the market size CAGR for apparel, footwear, and accessories from 2019 to 2024 being 14.7%, 12.8%, and 10.0%, respectively.

Among them, the windbreakers and sun-protective clothing are the super popular items in outdoor apparel. According to data from Yien, windbreakers have the highest content volume on social media platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu. From the market structure perspective, affordable windbreakers occupy the main market, while the mid-to-high-end windbreaker market is growing at a faster pace. According to Jiuqian data, mid-to-high-end windbreakers show stronger growth potential, with online sales growth rates for windbreakers priced between 699-1521 yuan projected to be 37% in the first four months of 2025, and online sales growth rates for windbreakers priced above 1521 yuan reaching as high as 65%.

Such industry data may explain why ECCO, which has deeply cultivated the business footwear sector, suddenly ventures into the trendy outdoor space.

Will anyone pay for ECCO outdoor?

Since the opening of its first ACTIVELIFESTYLE outdoor store in 2024, ECCO has completed a strategic layout of 20 stores in China. This century-old brand, known for its footwear, is attempting to transition from a "footwear expert" to a "full-scene outdoor lifestyle brand."

In terms of product positioning, ECCO is also targeting the mid-to-high-end market. According to a report by Southern Metropolis and Bay Finance, an inquiry into ECCO's official mall reveals that its collaboration series with Japanese brand White Mountaineering features distinctly high-end pricing: sports shoes are priced primarily in the 2000-3000 yuan range, the starting price for the collaboration outerwear series exceeds 2000 yuan, and the pricing for the GORE-TEX professional fabric jackets is as high as nearly 7000 yuan.

Such pricing has also sparked considerable controversy in the market. Some industry insiders point out that although ECCO has quickly penetrated the streetwear scene through three collaborations with White Mountaineering, its pricing lacks strong technical endorsement in front of the professional matrix of outdoor sports brands, resulting in insufficient market recognition.

Taking trail running shoes as an example, leading brands like Salomon and HOKA often price their main models in the range of 1000-2000 yuan, such as the Salomon Pulsar Trail series and HOKA MAFATE SPEED2, which have become the top choice for runners due to their professional performance and cost-effectiveness. In the jacket market, Arc'teryx's NORVAN SHELL, a GORE-TEX hard shell, is priced around 4500 yuan, while domestic brand Kailas's MONTX series manages to keep the price of jackets made with the same material under 4000 yuan, making them relatively more competitive.

However, ECCO's customer base itself possesses strong purchasing power, which may be the confidence behind its positioning of the sports product line as mid-to-high end. However, changing the ECCO customer’s entrenched impression of "comfortable business" to accept its new positioning of "functional outdoor" is bound to be a long and challenging battle.

On social media, the consumer choice of "giving up ECCO and turning to Arc'teryx/Descente/Salomon" is frequently seen. As professional outdoor brands like Arc'teryx and Salomon continue to their product lines, ECCO's once core middle-class customer group is facing a sustained diversion crisis. This has compelled the brand to accelerate its transformation pace and seek breakthroughs in the fiercely competitive outdoor market.

Financial reports show that from 2021 to 2024, ECCO's revenue in the Greater China region has continued to grow for four consecutive years, increasing from 360 million euros to 418 million euros. However, the trend of slowing growth is also evident. Data indicates that ECCO's revenue growth rate in the Greater China region decreased from 19% in 2021 to 1% in 2024.

As of now, ECCO has opened 20 ACTIVELIFESTYLE outdoor flagship stores in China. The brand recently revealed in public reports that it plans to continue expanding in economically vibrant cities with strong consumer spending and will collaborate with leading commercial real estate developers to optimize its market layout.