Danish global footwear group operating Eccolet Portugal in São João de Ver (Santa Maria da Feira) since 1984 — ECCO’s first factory outside Denmark, today producing 2.8 million pairs a year with 1,169 staff.
ECCO arrived in Portugal in 1984, locating its first factory outside Denmark in the parish of São João de Ver in Santa Maria da Feira (Aveiro district). Today Eccolet (Portugal) — Fábrica de Sapatos, Lda is one of the largest footwear producers in the country, employing 1,169 staff and producing around 2.8 million pairs of shoes annually for ECCO’s global distribution network. The group recently committed a further €20 million to renovate the Santa Maria da Feira facility and train several hundred new workers.
ECCO also operates a factory outlet store on Rua Francisco Rocha in São João de Ver alongside the manufacturing plant. A separate entity, Ecco (Portugal) Sales — Comercialização de Sapatos, Lda, handles Portuguese retail distribution of the ECCO brand.
ECCO is one of the oldest and largest Danish industrial investments in Portugal and a benchmark case for long-term Nordic manufacturing commitment to the country. The Santa Maria da Feira factory anchors Portugal’s footwear cluster in the region around Porto, and ECCO’s 40+ years in Aveiro demonstrate how Nordic operators can build durable industrial footprints in Portuguese manufacturing hubs — a reference point for Danish and Swedish industrial groups evaluating Portuguese production.
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