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WF FOOTPRINTS
HAPPENINGS, PEOPLE AND PLACES
CHANGES AS ECCO LOOKS
FOR MORE BENEFIT FROM
INTEGRATED SUPPLY CHAIN
Danish footwear brand Ecco, whose
integrated supply chain strategy means it
still owns and runs its own tanneries,
has announced a series of important
changes to its organisation and man-
agement structure.
It will form a new Ecco production
group, to be headed by Panos Mytaros,
the executive vice-president who has run
the company’s leather business for many
years. The new production group will
comprise the existing Ecco leather
group, based in Dongen in the
Netherlands, but will also include a new
Ecco shoe group, which will have its
base in Singapore and be managed by
current director Flemming Larsen. The
shoe group will look after the work of
Ecco’s footwear manufacturing units in
China, Indonesia, Portugal, Slovakia and
Thailand as well as external sourcing.
The leather group has four tanneries,
located in Surabaya, Indonesia,
Ayudhthaya, Thailand, and Xiamen,
China, as well as the facility in Dongen,
where the leather group also has its
research and development operation.
Commenting on the changes, chief
operating officer, Michael Hauge
Sørensen, said: “Ecco is in a positive
development with growth and increased
profitability. We must, however, plan for
the future and this re-organisation will
give us a simpler and more efficient
organisation, bring us closer to our
customers and allow us to benefit further
from owning the entire value chain.”
Three regional sales organisations in
North America, Europe, Middle East &
Africa and Asia-Pacific will now be
coordinated into a global sales
organisation headed by executive vice-
president Michel Krol. There are two
new appointments within management
with Gerd Vibeke Rahbek-Clemmensen,
managing director of Ecco Holding, the
group’s parent company becoming a
member of the supervisory board and
Steen Borgholm, presently regional
director of Asia-Pacific, returning to
Denmark to become a member of the
managing board and take over the
position of chief financial officer from
Annemette Nøhr, who has decided to
leave Ecco.
All these changes will be in place by
July. Later, with effect from January 1,
2013, the company’s general manager in
China, George Kahwati, will be the new
regional director for Asia-Pacific.
FORMER BROWN SHOE
EXECUTIVES LAUNCH NEW
FOOTWEAR COMPANY
Belgian footwear group Cortina-
Leomil has secured a licence to make
shoes for the Angry Birds brand.
Angry Birds is a popular children’s
computer game.
4
WORLD FOOTWEAR | MAY/JUNE 2012
Footprints
NEW APPRENTICES HELP MAKE SHOES FOR
MANCHESTER UNITED MANAGER
A long-established bespoke footwear manufacturer from Govan in Glasgow
has celebrated the arrival of three new apprentices by making a special pair of
handmade shoes for one of the area’s most famous citizens.
Buchanan Bespoke Footwear has been providing high-quality tailored shoes in
Govan for nearly 90 years, using an exclusive range of fine leathers, linings, and
soling materials. It currently employs around 50 people.
Three apprentices, Andrew Harvey, Scott Rennie and William Magee, are in the
process of learning the variety of skills required to become bespoke shoemakers
and have been involved in making a special pair of brown brogues for Sir Alex
Ferguson, the legendary manager of Manchester United, but a native of Govan.
The three apprentices recently travelled to Manchester to hand the shoes over.
They made a standard pair of size nine, because the Manchester United manager
was unavailable to attend the three sessions that are normally necessary to
measure a client’s feet, have a trial fit and then final fitting. However, he had
already expressed his support for the company’s efforts to train a new generation
of craftspeople.
Diana Currie, managing director of Buchanan Bespoke Footwear, explained:
“We have been providing high-quality footwear since 1925. It is important that we
keep the traditional hand crafting shoemaking skills alive and by taking on new
apprentices we can create a new generation of experts who can keep the
business going as other staff retire.
“I wrote to Sir Alex to tell him about our commitment to training and the three
new apprentices. He was only too happy to show his support and get involved
with us as we are based in his hometown. Our apprentices were thrilled to meet
him and I am sure it will inspire them to continue learning new skills and the
business as a whole.”
New bespoke footwear apprentices Andrew Harvey, Scott Rennie and William
Magee with Sir Alex Ferguson.
CREDIT: BUCHANAN BESPOKE FOOTWEAR