

According to market research firm NPD, On owns 6.6% of the performance running shoe category in the United States.

As of mid year 2020, On sports footwear was reported to be available in 6,000 retailers in 55 countries worldwide with the United States being its biggest single market. If sneakerheads take to the Cloudnova the way Allemann expects them to-and wear them at home in all the ways he anticipates-we might be a few regrettable tweets away from calling them the Quarcore 1s.On is an athletic shoe and performance sportswear company originating in Switzerland that designs and markets sports clothing and running shoes.Īs of 2019 the company held 40% of the running shoe market in Switzerland and 10% in Germany. The limited release sold out instantly on On's webstore, but you can still pick up a pair at select retailers like Dover Street Market, Bodega, and Shoe Gallery.

If all that sounds worth investigating to you, the On Cloudnova dropped today for $150. We want the Cloudnova to be the shoe equivalent of that.” If you’re on Zoom conferences right now, you probably see some people in the same hoodie for the whole week, because it’s comfortable and functional and they can do everything they need to in it. "Our generation was already living a life where work, home, play, and sports were all fusing together anyhow, and that process is now happening at lightspeed because there are suddenly 4.9 billion people doing everything at home. “We felt the new reality that we have right now was asking for a new sneaker,” Allemann says. To capitalize on that timeliness, On moved up the release of the Cloudnova by more than a month. Instead, On being On, they decided to go another route entirely.Īt a time when our wardrobes are shifting and consolidating in strange and unexpected ways, the idea of a shoe that can really, truly do it all feels more timely than ever. So when On began plotting a formal move into the lifestyle sneaker market more than a year ago, the brand could have easily followed the path walked by their competitors: re-release an older model in a wavy new colorway, perhaps, or simply shift the marketing around one of their current sneakers to make it feel more everyday-friendly. The practicality and high-key techiness are part of the appeal, and On’s shoes-the brainchild of world champion duathlete Olivier Bernhard-are nothing but practical and high-key techy. Which, ironically enough, is also what makes them exactly right for this particular moment in sneaker culture.īecause technical performance runners have been ascendant in fashion circles for years now: Salomon’s XT-6 trail shoe was GQ's best sneaker of 2019, and you’re as likely to see a gargantuan pair of Hokas on the feet of a SoHo window shopper as you are on the road runner sprinting past them on the pavement.

They’re built for hardcore runners by hardcore runners, designed to eke out every last inch of competitive advantage when you’re training for a marathon or scrambling down a tricky stretch of trail. That's intentional: the shoes use a proprietary technology dubbed CloudTec, engineered to propel your foot from a soft landing into an explosive takeoff, and it marks them as purpose-built tools-as sneakers go, they're more of a Formula One race car than a daily driver. The outsoles on a typical pair of running shoes from On, the cult Swiss athletics company, look like a cross between the tread on a bulldozer and an uncooked lasagna noodle.
