Ihad a sense of the dimensions that On had taken on when I went to New York in the fall of 2022. I saw people with their shoes everywhere. It could have been confirmation bias (i.e., I subconsciously only saw those shoes and then concluded that everyone had them) but it was undeniable that so many people wore them. You didn’t have to be a clever journalist to know that that was an interesting story. I later found out that even then On had come to have a 6.6 percent share of the U.S. running shoe market. Which in the land of Nike and Brooks is news.
Perhaps the impression that all New Yorkers wore them was exaggerated but not that much.
I had heard about On almost since its birth, which was a very short time before Runlovers: founded in 2010 by former Ironman champion Olivier Bernhard with David Allemann and Caspar Coppetti, it immediately stood out for its distinctive patented midsole called CloudTec. Legend has it that the first prototype was created by cutting a rubber irrigation hose to create a cushioning effect by squeezing it and releasing the energy. An ingenious idea that combined mechanics and weight, since a midsole of this kind has mass only where it is needed, while being lightened by everything that can be replaced by a widely available material: air.
Not only that, but this ingenious technical solution soon became On’s trademark: it could be seen from afar thanks to the through holes in the midsole.
Whether by chance or luck, the three founders managed to create a product that was different from the rest of the market and also made it very easy to identify. In other words they gained consumer interest and brand recognition.
The beginning was promising, and from there on, the Swiss brand’s story accelerated and continues to this day, with the opening of a showroom that looks like a contemporary art gallery in the Bowery in Manhattan and many other flagship stores around the world (and hopefully soon in Italy).
I mention this showroom in particular because-as a flagship store-it was designed and built to primarily communicate the identity and vision of On: a brand with great personality and a very clear vision of its product, both aesthetically and technically.
Aesthetics and technology
After all, technique and aesthetics have been in its DNA since its founding, and the ability of this company has also been to govern its growth by scaling up its product offerings while maintaining its philosophy central, based on a vision in which humanity is at the center of the product idea and is aided by attention to technological detail.
If you prioritize the engineering aspect, you will in fact get products that are efficient and useful but not necessarily beautiful. Not in the case of On, who has been able to combine technique and aesthetics, uniting them through vision and personality. In the case of a brand, personality becomes the consistency with which it manages to communicate itself without compromise, not following market trends but anticipating or creating them.
On then managed to expand its offerings in the field of apparel, once again managing to distinguish itself and creating a very particular and urban aesthetic, based on sober, elegant and low-contrast colors and on details and constructions of the garments that are each time happy inventions capable of making them unique and recognizable among a thousand different ones.
Casa On
A few days ago in Milan, On organized a few days on the occasion of the Milan Marathon. Even then, in its own way.
Each activity was not at the Marathon Expo but at the Dazi Levante at the Arco della Pace and was reserved for a few dozen people in order to devote more attention and listening to those participating.
How was it a different experience? The impression was of being guests at On’s home, because the runs, the dinner, and the workshops were evidently prepared to communicate the vision of the Swiss house, and this is not only about products but a much broader field.
During the run, one could listen to a playlist curated by NTS while testing the Cloudmonster 2 (performance, movement). The dinner (the conviviality, the dialogue) was inside Dazi Levante where installations had been set up that seemed to anticipate the oncoming Milan Design Week and where products were displayed as works of art. Workshops, such as one by London-based designer Helen Kirkum, were about recycling materials (environmental care) or senses such as hearing, in “Weaving Sound” curated by Wander Lust Vision.
A brand’s vision is expressed through aesthetics and performance, but it involves all the senses and the way of doing things-from reception to hospitality venues to the minutest detail. “Doing it your own way” thus means imagining a dimension of sports as a component of life. Beyond that there is art, music, people, and beauty. Because it’s not only about the body and its care but also the mind.
Wrong colors do not exist
As Head Of Design Direction Lorena Dähler said, “There are no wrong colors but, if anything, juxtapositions and personal tastes.” These words made me think of what Miles Davis once said, “In jazz there are no wrong notes but only unexpected or new notes.” Somewhat like the products of a company that thinks it is entering a mature market by going its own way and succeeds in having considerable recognition, especially in a limited time frame. In retrospect, it seems clear how it did it: by playing new or unexpected notes. The question is succeeding while you are still a small company or not at all known: succeeding as a start-up is one of those things that rarely happens, or happens when a proposal meets a consumer audience capable of understanding and embracing it.
In retrospect all the tiles fall into place and the pattern is consistent. When instead things are happening, it is more difficult to see the overall plot. To understand how they did it, perhaps it helps to observe the spirit in which they work and have fun, or enjoy working. In Milan I saw some, although the occasion was for a dinner and some workshops including one on the use of recycled materials. People from On were among the guests, both at the dinner and the workshops. Sometimes it was difficult to spot them because they were not dressed On from head to toe. They didn’t even look like they were working-they were very much enjoying cutting and sewing or chatting with each other and the guests.
Then I thought that a possible little secret of their success was that they enjoyed what they were doing, and it is not always a given.
Then, when both Dähler and EMEA General Manager Bianca Pestalozzi were speaking during a panel on creativity, I realized that they products embedded the spirit of the people who designed them: young, enthusiastic, seriously fun, and very different from how you might imagine a creative department head or a general manager. The first is a sportswoman who practices meditation and knows very well the difference between work and private life, and the other-who has also taken On to China-makes no secret of the fact that she loves karaoke to compensate for time spent on numbers and development strategies.
If there is a secret-if I have been able to grasp it-it is expressed by these people who, while holding top positions in a large international company-have found a point of balance, often evidenced by a smile.
Perhaps it is not even a secret but rather their way of being and doing certain things: in their own way, starting with a rubber tube cut and fitted under a shoe to see if it can work that way too.
Well, it worked perfectly.
