International shoe group with headquarters in Bredebro and Tønder In January 1963, Karl Toosbuy from Bagsværd bought an industrial building in Bredebro with a view to establishing a shoe factory. Bredebro Skofabrik A / S, later Ecco A / S, began production in April 1963. In 1974, Ecco established its first foreign production in Brazil. In 1982, license production followed in Japan, and in 1984 a new factory was established in Portugal. Based on the production of casual shoes and a highly developed production technology, Ecco has become a global company. The factory in Portugal is in 2009 the development center for Shoe Factories in Slovakia, Indonesia, Thailand and Xiamen in China.

Ecco owns tanneries in the Netherlands, China, Indonesia and Thailand and has established subsidiaries and sales departments worldwide. Bredebro is still the headquarters for Ecco A / S, but has ceased to be a production unit. In 1994, the Ecco Education and Conference Center was established in the former agricultural school in Tønder. In 1999, Tønder also became home to an Ecco distribution center for the Scandinavian and German markets. After Karl Toosbuy's death in 2004, his daughter, Hanni Toosbuy Kasprzak, took over the ownership of Ecco A / S, and his son-in-law Dieter Kasprzak was appointed CEO. In 2007, Ecco sold nearly 17 million pairs of shoes worldwide. In 2010, Ecco had a net turnover of DKK 6.1 billion.