Ecco launches new products in Biom line
Ecco launched its Winter 2012 Biom collection in Salt Lake City, ahead of Outdoor Retailer Winter Market. Company reps claim the line's new products encourage the foot’s natural motion. SNEWS brings you details.
Get access to everything we publish when you sign up for Outside+.
Ecco launched its Winter 2012 collection in Salt Lake City, ahead of Outdoor Retailer Winter Market. Company reps highlighted new products in the Biom line they claim encourage the foot’s natural motion.
SNEWS was able to check out the new line of Biom — short for biomechanical optimization — shoes, including the latest Biom Grip, at the company’s media event. As outdoor journalists munched on their dinners, Alex Nicolai, Ecco’s head of sport in Denmark, passed around a mold of a foot around which the company’s shoes are made.
“The shoe must follow the foot,” Nicolai explained. The Biom line was first introduced in 2009 with the Biom Run series, and Ecco has continued to add products, most recently the Grip, an outdoor shoe for exploring or hiking.
Ecco claimed the Biom line has “technology that frees your body.” The shoes include the Biom Fit, which is a direct injection of polyurethane foam in the midsole of the shoe, intended to last longer than EVA foam and giving the shoe a longer use life.
Shoes in the Biom line are low-to-the-ground, which allows for the foot to move naturally without sacrificing midfoot protection.
“This gives you a closer relationship with the ground,” Nicolai said. Ecco claimed the shoes in the line help increase runners’ and hikers’ performances because the construction strengthens muscles in the foot and lower leg.
Biom products run the gamut from the bare essentials minimalist version, in the Biom Lite, to the Biom Trail and Biom Hike, the last of which is lined with waterproof Gore-Tex lining.
The Biom Trail has a combination of flexibility and support, with added traction and increased midsole protection to encourage a natural foot strike.
The new Biom Grip comes in three different styles, all of which have leather outers.
One thing that differentiates Ecco from other footwear companies is its Yak leather, which Nicolai said is 35 times stronger than cow leather. The new Biom Hike and Biom Lite both use Yak in its construction.
–Ana Trujillo
