Karl Toosbuy – the founder of ECCO – had a dream. He wanted to own a shoe factory and run his own business. Trained from an early age as a shoemaker, he gradually rose through the ranks and by his early 30’s was managing a shoe factory in Copenhagen. The business, however, was not his. Both ECCOs founders, Birte and Karl Toosbuy, were convinced that they would find the most reliable workforce in the provinces of Denmark. 

Therefore, they published an advertisement in Jyllands-Posten in 1962 with the title "Who wants us?". 

Local businessmen and farmers from Bredebro, 250 km from Copenhagen, responded to the advertisement and a match was made.

On the 1st of April 1963, the new shoe company was established for the amount of 158,000 Danish Kroner. By the end of the year 74 people were employed.

The first designs were with pointy toes and thin heels and were produced under the name “Venus”. The Venus design became a huge success for the business in Bredebro, so much that in 1966, the editor of Tidens Kvinder, a Danish fashion magazine, compared the Venus with designs of the renowned French designer, Charles Jourdan.