Ecco review: disintegrating soles 55

My Ecc0 walking shoes lost their soles in large flakes before they had been worn very long. They were very comfortable and another pair of Ecco's was wearing well, so I thought it was just a fluke and bought a pair of Ecco suede wingtips. The very first day I wore them, the soles cracked across the ball of the foot and the heels began losing large, sticky chunks all around their perimeters. That's two out of three pairs, too high a percentage of early sole failure to be isolated incidents. The faulty soles were of different materials, too, so there was not just one bad batch of sole material. Very comfortable (expensive) shoes, well-assembled, but not worth the risk of buying again. I hope the company fails for its lack of customer concern.

Last year whil visiting the US I bought the most comfteble and expensive hiking boots I ever did, Ecco's.
The seller (Harry's Soes NY) said they will last me for many good years. A few mont after, the sole started to peel off. I took it to the shoemaker. He glued it and stiched it, and did not understand why it wad not stiched in the first place.

It happened to my Ecco shoes too, I havent even wear for a year and it started to crumbles and I almost twist my foot.

I had same problem with Eccos. Here is my article with pictures:::http://ctwatchdog.com/2010/03/14/ecco-shoes-warning-almost-new-expensive-shoes-disintegrate#comments

Three pair of Ecco shoes have soles that are disintegrating to the point that I leave a trail of black crumbs and marks where I walk. Didn't know it was happening until I was at a meeting. It was embarrassing.

Won't be buying ecco again, no customer service in Ireland, they do a visual check as if this will recap manufacturing faults an tell U to like it or lump it, it would be less hassle if they were up front an just stole your money, im being passed from Europe to England like a hot brick some company the customer is wrong, never buy from this lot again

I'm another unhappy consumer. I'm 3 for 3 with ECCO shoes and the disintegrating soles ... and each pair was at the upper end of their price scale. I liked the shoes right up to the messy end with the uppers still in good condition.

I'm from Ireland and I had that same experience also with three pair of Ecco shoes, two of which had very little wear. I returned these two pair to their H/Q in Cork Ireland. The reply I got was worst than dreadful - it was curt, rude and most condescending. On receiving their reply I unfortunately tore it up in disgust & temper as i should have sent a copy of it to Ecco World H/Q. That finished me with Ecco for life until I bought a pair of Ecco Golf shoes hoping for something better at €220 a pair - but no - same problem again - yes you may say - I deserved it - No, No, No never Ecco again

Unfortunately for me, last month I was vacationing in Buenos Aires and wore my Ecco shoes out for a fancy meal. I noticed the shoes were falling apart as I left my table. It was embarrassing. As other people have mentioned, they make a HUGE mess with tiny crumbles of black crap all over the place. Rather than pack them in my suitcase to travel back home with them, I threw them out AFTER taking many photos of them. I contacted ECCO USA, who were going to replace them, but told me they do not ship to Canada. They referred me to ECCO Canada. Unfortunately ECCO Canada’s customer service leaves much to be desired. They only responded to my email after sending emails several days apart, and they refuse to offer any compensation without being able to “inspect” the shoes. They admitted there was a problem with the soles of the shoes, and I attached numerous photos of the shoes, but they don’t care about my plight. It’s not like ECCO shoes are inexpensive, and after their less than stellar customer service, I will never purchase another pair of ECCO shoes, nor would I ever recommend them to anyone.

I had a pair of ECCO shoes made in Denmark that disintegrated at Thanksgiving dinner in 2015. I contacted ECCO in the US at [protected] on November 30th and explained the situation. They sent me a postage paid bag to ship the shoes to NuShoe for evaluation. On December 16th I received an email from NuShoe stating that they were forwarding their evaluation to ECCO and giving a 4 to 6 week processing. On December 27th I received a letter from ECCO agreeing to replace the shoes. They enclosed a gift card for one pair of shoes, not to exceed $150. The card had to be used at their online web store where I found a very nice pair that were on sale at $149.99, marked down from $200.

It probably helped that the shoes had very little wear as I don't have many occasions to wear black dress shoes. I also sent a nice letter along with the claim form.

I am satisfied with the response from ECCO and will continue to buy their shoes.

I had almost the exact same experience as Steven in Baltimore. My shoes were a few years old, but they are dress shoes and I hardly ever wear them. They fell apart Dec 2015, and now I have some brand new shoes that didn't cost me a penny. Thank you Ecco for standing behind your product.

Called customer service at [protected] due to similar described problems. On other sites several postings said that ECCO was not responding to complaints. So I guess something has changed. The representative I spoke with took ownership of the problem. After a brief description of the heal disintegrating the ECCO rep assured me that the defect was theirs to correct.

As noted by Steve in Baltimore, it may help to remain respectful when there is a grievance. Fight the unacceptable standards without losing principles. Win or lose you don't want to feel jaded by the experience. However, I don't think my attitude made much difference here. Clearly, something must have changed or Steve, Tony and I just happened to get the same nice ECCO representative.

Same experience - called 800 No. - super service - now waiting for mailing bag. Thanks for the tip!

I've had three pairs of Ecco's fall apart---mostly sport shoes. While I appreciate having the 800 customer service #...I'm DONE with Ecco. How in the world can a brand with such a well-earned reputation allow this to happen--let alone not seem to care? Bye bye Ecco.

Why can't ECCO just reformulate their soles? I have a pair of 30 year old Doc Martens that will outlive me. These are not shoes you buy at Walmart. ECCOs are supposedly a premium level shoe. It's too bad that there appears to be a built-in self destruct mechanism in these shoes. I'm done with ECCO and moving on to other brands.

CAUTION: Be careful about taking advantage of EccoUSA's policy of checking your shoes for defects/problems. They will provide you with a free mailer to send your shoes to them for inspection. I did this with my favorite pair of shoes with a note that I wanted them sent back to me since they were in very good condition except for a small sole issue. Instead, they sent me a gift card and destroyed my favorite shoes. They refused to return my shoes. I even wrote to their global headquarters, but received no answer. I wanted them to return my shoes as I had indicated in the note that accompanied my shoes to them or to have them make me a new pair. No response from global headquarters. This was a terrible experience for me with ECCO.

Same sad tale. My Eccos were comfortable, good looking and the soles came completely unstuck from the uppers. I'm pretty sure I could remedy the situation with duct tape, but then my wife would never be seen with me again. I'm old: my shoes never wear out. My closet is packed with shoes of great antiquity whose soles are still attached to the uppers. On the bright side, $140 is pretty cheap tuition, right? Now I know.

Same story with my three ecco dress shoes.beautiful shoes but heels come off n all.when shoes were made in Denmark no such problem but now they are poorly made.what a shame

Here in Australia in July 2010 I bought 3 pairs of Ecco shoes at the same visit, all for different weekend purposes: a casual all leather winter sneaker-style, a lightweight suede bowling-style, and a heavier walking shoe with Gortex for wet weather. They were the latest designs so not on sale - and Ecco shoes are not cheap (unless you're used to buying Manolo Blaniks of course). Given I only wore these Ecco shoes on weekends I expected the soles would take time to wear out (eventually, you know, like running shoes do - with wear), not go squishy underfoot and crumble to nothing. All three pairs disintegrated at the same time this year - talk about having a used-by-date! Yes, I had them for 7 years but they were hardly worn and the wardrobe saw them more than my feet. All leather shoes don't disintegrate in the wardrobe! True to form the Gortex upper lasted, as you'd expect...but not Ecco's crappy purpose-built, self-destruct sole. I'm now in the market for replacements and intended visiting an Ecco store this weekend, but given the comments here I won't bother. Thanks to everyone for saving me money and time. Ecco is trashing the name of Danish design - send a complaint to Fred and Mary, who promote their country's design credentials.

What was the email address you sent the complaint to? i have just had the same happen to me in the Hairdressers!
i went online and saw all the complaints! This has been happening for years, so how does a big company like this still getting away with it?!

I have had the same problem with crumbling shoe soles starting a about 3 years ago. I hadn't worn some of the shoes in a long time and one pair was bought on sale and never worn. What a stick mess. Some of the shoes crumbled and got sticky but others just got sort of a flat tire. I also thought maybe it was an isolated situation where I was somehow storing them improperly. I will count up my many pairs of shoes and give the customer service 800 number a call. I too have stopped buying Ecco shoes which I used to love and were so comfortable.

Same problem as others, leather sandles, crap soles, disintegrating due to oxidation of the material. I think I'll just 'bin em & forget em '
As it sounds like a long haul to satisfaction. :(

Alas! I join this crowd of very unhappy ECCO shoe customers. I had a wonderful pair years ago that lasted a very long time. Now, within 2 days both my brown leather pair and my black leather pair ( same style which I purchased at very near the same time about 4 years ago) have soles which disintegrated in black crud, soiling our carpet and leaving a trail through our home. I'm just waiting for my current third pair to do the same. Come on, ECCO, you should do better than this!

My husband loved the shoes and bought 3 pairs, lace uus one black and one brown and a slip on black at Nordstrom paying full price. All 3 met the same fate. The soles simply fell apart with small pieces coming off. It is appalling, these reputable shoes have suck poor quality soles. He just got annoyed when it happened to his first pair worn fairly new attending an important meeting and had to buy a pair of dress shoes available in town to finish his work. The other 2 just stayed in boxes and soles broke apart in pieces. Interestingly I came across this site and thought I should submit a compaint.

My husband loved the feel of ecco shoes and bought 3 pairs, lace uus one black and one brown and a slip on black at Nordstrom paying full price. All 3 met the same fate. The soles simply fell apart with small pieces coming off. It is appalling, these reputable shoes have suck poor quality soles. He just got annoyed when it happened to his first pair worn fairly new attending an important meeting and had to buy a pair of dress shoes available in town to finish his work. The other 2 just stayed in boxes and soles broke apart in pieces. Interestingly I came across this site and thought I should submit a compaint.

I bought a pair of Ecco boots (ankle) and after only half a dozens wears the heels of one have totally disintegrated.
What’s is happening here, your shoes/boots I’ve bought for years without any problems?
Without any feedback regarding this problem then these will be my final pair from your company.
To add insult to injury the boots cost a small fortune as well! Not impressed at all.

Ecco tracks are having the same problem. The soles on two pair have denigrated or cracked. I'll phone [protected] and see what results I get.

Wore my black leather ECCO slip-ons to a funeral today and the soles of the shoes started falling apart. It's like they were on a timer to fall apart or something because I wore them a month ago and nothing happened. The leather tops and inside are in perfect condition, I'd really like to get them resoled if it's possible. Some of the chunks that fell off are all the way to the white insides with the insole taken out. Really embarrassing that this happened and I really loved these shoes, cost over $200 when I got them.

Hi. I bought ECCO Exostrike Dyneema shoes. I don't know how long this Shoe model will last. Does anyone have these shoes? how do you like the quality of these shoes?

In less than 2 years, with light use, my husband's ecco shoe soles fell apart in his showroom at a gift show! Pieces of his heels were breaking off as he walked around! He walked In the door last night fuming! I honestly don't know how he was even able to walk. An associate proclaimed that they must be Ecco, since he had heard if this happening. On the web, I am reading reports from people all the way back from 2010! How has the company not recalled these defective shoes? They are sending me a postage paid bag to send them back, and will send a voucher for a new pair. They're making it easy, and are trying to avoid the bad press, but it would be more respectable if they would admit fault!

I have bought numerous pairs of Ecco shoes due to their reputation of being great shoes. That was when I purchased the shoes. shortly after my purchases, one of the pairs sole disintegrated. I contacted Ecco with no luck. I have a pair that the sole has gotten sticky. I carried the shoes to a shoe shop to see about the sole. They told me that there was nothing they could do and that the soles would eventually disintegrate.
This is two pair of Ecco shoes, which are expensive, that I have lost, not only shoes but money I spent to purchase them.
Where do I go from here?
William Vaughn
bvwalk162@gmail.com
[protected]
3346 Berryside Drive, Murfreesboro, tn. 37128

I bought six pair of ECCO shoes, spread out over a number of years. They all suffered from premature crumbling soles. This more than just a hiccup in their production, and I doubt only 1% of their shoes suffer from this. If so, the odds are astronomical that all six of my shoes were bad.

It's one thing to make a product with planned obsolescence. It's another thing to tell a bold-faced lie.

We too have stopped buying Ecco shoes. Completely useless ! I buy shoes of good leather quality to last. They are put away clean and dry. It is very noticeable that the Ecco soles collapse but other makes of shoes do not. When it first happened we returned to the Ecco shop in Chichester West Sussex UK but they could give us no information or support. They even said they’d never heard of such a thing occurring !
I now wear Gabor and no longer have the problem.

From all the reads, I’ve picked up one thing ... the shoe gives up at just the worst time possible ... I went camping and hiking with my family and had planned to give my son a great climbing experience in the wadis valleys of the Middle East ... parked got off the car and there ... the soles stayed behind and PU like talcum powder dropped off ... most disappointed ...

They've had this widespread problem for well over a decade now. Let me just say this, if the soles of your new pair of Ecco shoes can disintegrate, they will disintegrate and disintegrate at the most inopportune time! And you bet they can disintegrate. Hard to believe Ecco continues to churn out shoes with planned obsolescence and they don't even have the decency to put a use-by date on them! Shame!

I have a pair of Ecco loafer type men's shoes with the best quality leather uppers. I can't believe that the quality of the soles came apart as I walked down the aisle at Mass last night. I carefully exited and went home to put on a pair of Johnston and Murphy shoes I has purchased recently. I hope these shoes last longer. These Ecco shoes should last for many years as I don't wear them that often.
If I could have them repaired locally I would certainly have them repaired, but doubt there is a cobbler that would bother even if they could find replacement soles. I would expect a much better quality.
I'm reluctant to go through the packaging and sending process to Ecco.
P.S. they are pricey but I would buy again with a more durable sole.
DaveinAZ

I just had my 2nd pair of expensive ECCO dress shoes disintegrate on me at a formal event (very embarrassing as pieces just start falling off as I walked). They clearly have a major problem but won't correct it. I don't believe that just 1% fail - that's just BS. I won't be buying any more ECCO shoes.

I bought a pair of boots, loved them, a month later I bought a pair of the track lows. This was about ten years ago, I didn't wear them often, probably a handful of times each year. Last month the soles on each pair fell apart into gooey crumbs. I'm amazed to discover how many people have had this issue over the course of so many years. I'm debating whether it's worth the bother of sending them back or chalk it up to a life lesson. What will Ecco replace them with? Shoes with similar issues?