Ecco Golf has teamed up with Rick Shiels on a new collaboration centered around the footwear brand’s best-selling Biom C4 shoe model.
Shiels, a popular golf YouTuber with nearly 3 million subscribers, updated the shoe by incorporating the color palette of his channel’s own branding into the silhouette. The resulting sneaker-style hybrid shoe comes in white with red and black accents, and features Shiels’ logo on the heel and tongue.
Aside from the aesthetic updates, the shoe’s performance aspects remained intact. The model features 360-degree breathability and waterproofing provided by a Gore-Tex Surround construction, which is combined with the Ecco Exhaust Grid that enables air ventilation towards the sole of the foot. Crafted from Ecco Performance Leather and a new, super-stretchy mesh sock, this hybrid shoe is set on the progressive Ecco Mtn Grip outsole and is powered by Biom Natural Motion technology.
“I’m thrilled to have joined forces with the Ecco Golf design team to create this special edition version of the BIOM C4,” Shiels said in a statement. “The design really reflects my individual style and passions, and I couldn’t have asked for a better model in which to showcase those aspects of my personality.”
The YouTube personality added that he was “lucky enough” to visit Ecco’s headquarters in Denmark earlier this year witness first-hand everything that goes into designing and crafting every pair of shoes that the company makes. “It was absolutely mind-blowing,” Shiels said. “I can’t wait to see the launch of this collaboration, and to be able to get the shoes out on the golf course!”
Just 500 pairs of the new special edition Ecco Golf x Rick Shiels Biom C4 shoe will be exclusively available in men’s sizes 5 through 14.5 at us.ecco.com/golf on Friday, April 26.
This latest golf shoe release comes at a time when the category – and the sport – is hotter than ever.
The once waning outdoor pastime saw a record 45 million Americans participating in golf in 2023, a 9.6 percent increase from 41.1 million players in 2022, according to recent data from the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA). For comparison, total golf participation was at 34.2 million participants in pre-pandemic 2019.
And this spike in participation has translated to a big bump in golf shoe sales, too. According to Circana’s retail tracking data, golf footwear saw $407.8 million in sales in 2023. And while dollar sales did decline 1 percent last year versus 2022, the market is still 48 percent larger compared to pre-pandemic 2019 when the category reported $275.8 million in sales.
