ECCO’S FUTURE I am delighted that our son André and daughter Anna have agreed that ECCO should continue as a company owned and operated by our family. They became ECCO shareholders several years ago, and in 2019, we discussed and agreed how we should work together as owners of ECCO in the future. We have made a formal agreement setting this out. I find it rewarding to work with André and Anna. It is a joy to involve them in the responsibility for ECCO, not least because they bring different perspectives to our discussions. This gives us the opportunity to combine the heritage of ECCO and the family, and our fundamental values, with their views on the future of ECCO. I am also convinced that our many loyal, dedicated employees are happy to know there will be continuity, and that ECCO will go on, always adapting to new times and new challenges. Currently, big challenges are centered around the disruptive and fast-paced nature of digital technologies and the way these are empowering consumers globally - and of course presently COVID-19. From my father, who with my mother founded ECCO, we inherited ECCO’s Code of Conduct, a set of rules that he formulated in the early 1990s, which we still live and work by. Today, they are expressed in a set of detailed policies based on their original ethical attitudes. During 2019, André, Anna, and I sat down to talk about what our focus points for the coming years should be. We defined them as: · To continue to provide consumers with a unique and pleasant experience when buying and wearing ECCO products. It is, and will always be, our primary aim to make great shoes and leather to satisfy our customers and consumers. · To provide job security for ECCO’s employees, and continue to be a company where people enjoy coming to work. · To care for the environment. We must realise that our activities have environmental impacts when we tan leathers, make shoes, and transport our products. We cannot change this entirely – but we will always work hard to minimise our impact on the environment, and always strive to be an industry leader in this respect. Caring about the environment is, however, not just an obligation for big companies or governments – it starts with every single one of us. The first focus point, to make high-quality shoes and leather, has always been at the heart of what we do. Uniquely, we control virtually the entire supply chain from hides and tanning, to shoe production and transportation, and selling the products. This allows us, at every point, to ensure that quality is high. The second point, to create a company where people enjoy coming to work, is evident from our annual engagement surveys across the entire company, and from the fact that we generally have a very low turnover of staff. We have also experienced this directly when we travel to ECCO’s factories and offices across the world. Finally, the environment. ECCO has, for many years, focused on developing solutions to reduce our impact on the environment. We invest heavily in environmental measures and have made very good progress – and will continue to do so. In the area of energy consumption, ECCO has used renewables, but also developed sustainable energy processes. ECCO has limited its use of natural resources, particularly water. Much has been achieved, and further landmark environmental developments are nearing completion. ECCO is also improving its programmes for recycling or upcycling waste. ECCO is in a good place. Hanni Toosbuy Kasprzak Chairman Annual Report 2019 2
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