You may not have encountered Danish footwear giant Ecco before, but the brand is one of the largest in the general footwear market and produces some 20 million pairs of footwear a year and now its turned its attention to the outdoors with the new lightweight BIOM Terrain walking boot, which won a Scandinavian Outdoors Group award when it was unveiled in Münich earlier this year.

Tec Dump

There’s loads going on with the BIOM Terrain. The BIOM bit, for example, is a reference to Ecco’s optimum fit based, it says here, on the ‘optimal motion path of a barefoot runner’ and honed by an extensive University research programme to produce the ideal fit which is honed for different activities including running, hiking and even golf.

There there’s the upper made from Tibetan yak leather, which is – thanks to the hardy nature of the high-altitude beasts – super tough and abrasion resistant, even when sliced thin to save weight.

Finally, the sole unit is direct injection affair combining PU and rubber elements and eliminating suspect stitching and glueing from that part of the boot – no more soles coming away from uppers.

Performance

So far we’re super impressed. We first used the BIOM Terrains fresh out of the box for a four-hour odd stomp across Kinder and they were, pardon the cliché, instantly comfortable. Fit is spot on for our medum everything UK feet, there’s decent padding, the soft but tough-feeling yak leather needs minimal breaking in and there’s even a rubber pad over the outside ankle bone.

Cushioning underfoot is good on hard surfaces and grip, so far, has been faultless all round both on rock and softer terrain, so all good there and the boots have a nice mix of forefoot flex for comfortable walking and mid-foot torisional stiffness for stability.

It’s too early to make a call on durability, but for a light boot, it’s all very promising with a kevlar rand, serious rubber toe-cap and a chunky heel support.

There’s a Gore-Tex liner, which you can make your own call on – it’s puddle friendly as per normal, but will slow drying times and can feel hot in warmer conditions.

Finally, while we really like the mix of tan yak leather and green sole and accents including laces, the boots also come with more sombre black laces for the less extrovert walker.

Initial Verdict

So far we’re really impressed. The BIOM Terrains are decently light – same ballpark as a Brasher Supalite – have a really comfortable fit, grip tenaciously on every surface we’ve tried and, if the claims for the yak leather uppers and protective Kevlar and rubber reinforcements are to be believed, should last decently too.

It’s early days, but if you’re after a lightweight walking boot that does it all, we reckon you should add the Ecco to your list. It’s relatively expensive for sure, but it’s also a lot of boot for your money. Looking good.

Full Spec

• Yak leather uppers
• Gore-Tex waterproof lining
• Reinforced toe-cap
• Low to ground construction
• Ankle comfort rubber insert
• Direct injected two-piece PU/rubber sole unit
• Lightweight Kevlar rand