Ecco the Danish footwear maker that started the trend in so-called casual or street golf shoes have been busy looking for ways to bring even more players into that fold by rolling out the Tour Hybrid line.
Tour Hybrids feature classic leather uppers with Ecco’s popular street outsoles. The uppers are handcrafted and made to look appropriate for wear in the office or at home as they are on the course. Not only do they look great, they come with a technology story. Ecco have constructed a shoe with 100 percent waterproof Gore-Tex and weather-resistant Hydromax leathers. The special linings are made from Second Skin leather to wick moisture and create a plush interior feel, aswell as a removable Comfort Fibre System insole to increase air circulation.
As for the patented outsole formation, which is made from a highly resilient, wear-resistant material known as TPU, it consists of approximately 100 molded traction bars and more than 800 traction angles intended to provide excellent grip in all weather and course conditions.
“The street shoe category has grown dramatically the past couple of years, and we expect it to approach half the total footwear market in 2013,” says David Helter, specialty sales director for Ecco USA, which is based in Londonderry, N.H.
“But there are still factions of old-school golfers who have worn cleated shoes all of their lives. Graeme McDowell is one of those guys, and while they may like the idea of hybrids, they have never been comfortable with a shoe that looked too sporty or casual or athletic. They wanted that classic look, which is what we are giving them with Tour Hybrid.”
Ecco golf footwear available at www.function18.com
