On Running Popular
On Running went from a startup nobody had heard of to one of the world's fastest-growing footwear brands in just over a decade. In 2010 they were a Swiss curiosity with a strange-looking outsole. By 2026 they sponsor some of the world's fastest runners, count Roger Federer as an investor, and their shoes appear on feet from London streets to Olympic tracks. This is how it happened.
The Swiss Origin Story (2010, Zurich)
On Running was founded in 2010 in Zurich, Switzerland by Olivier Bernhard (a professional triathlete and duathlon world champion), David Allemann, and Caspar Coppetti. The origin story is genuinely unusual for a footwear brand — it started with a retired athlete who was dissatisfied with every shoe he tried.
Bernhard had been experimenting with garden hoses strapped to his shoe soles to create a cushioned-yet-firm running platform. He partnered with Allemann and Coppetti to turn this into a real product. The first On Running shoe launched in 2010 with just one model — a road shoe with the distinctive hollow pod outsole. It sold out in Switzerland almost immediately.
Why the Origin Story Matters
On Running was built by a competitive athlete frustrated by existing shoes — not by a marketing team identifying a market gap. That origin gives the brand authentic technical credibility. Every product decision can be traced back to: "does this make running feel better?" rather than "does this look good in an ad?"
The CloudTec Difference: A Look That Actually Works
The most immediately obvious thing about On Running shoes is the outsole. The hollow pods — CloudTec — don't look like anything else on the market. And that's not an accident. The design is the result of the technology, not the other way around.
CloudTec pods compress individually on impact, spreading force across the pod surface, then firm up at push-off to create a propulsive platform. The visual result of this engineering is the distinctive pod-covered outsole that makes On Running instantly recognisable from fifty metres away.
Distinctive Visual Identity
The CloudTec outsole is unmistakable. In a world where many running shoes look interchangeable, On Running has a visual signature that's immediately identifiable. This is rare in footwear — Nike's Swoosh aside, very few brands have an outsole you'd recognise across a room.
The Feel Is Different Too
First-time On wearers consistently describe the ride as different from any shoe they've tried before. The compression-then-propulsion cycle creates a sensation that's been described variously as "running on clouds", "springy", and "like the road is pushing back." It's not just the look — the feel is genuinely distinctive.
Roger Federer: The Investment That Changed Everything
In 2019, Roger Federer became a co-owner of On Running. This was not an endorsement deal — he invested real money and took genuine equity in the business. Federer has been actively involved in product development, including the Federer collection of high-performance tennis shoes and clothing.
The Federer association changed On Running's trajectory in three specific ways:
- Global media coverage — a 20-time Grand Slam champion becoming a co-owner generated news coverage that no advertising budget could buy
- Luxury positioning — Federer's personal brand is synonymous with precision, elegance, and controlled excellence. These associations transferred directly to On Running's image
- Fashion world attention — Federer's connections to the fashion industry (he's a regular front-row presence at major shows) opened doors that pure sports brands don't normally access
Why Federer Invested
- Federer wore On Running shoes during his 2019 comeback — not because they paid him, but because he liked them
- He approached the brand, not the other way around
- This reversed relationship — athlete seeks out brand — is significant for credibility. It's why the association feels authentic rather than manufactured
- Since his investment, On has expanded its tennis and multi-sport range significantly
Celebrity and Cultural Adoption
On Running has become a brand that appears on people who aren't particularly known for their sportswear choices. Unlike Nike or Adidas, which have built their celebrity associations through explicit sponsorship deals, On Running's cultural moment has happened more organically.
The shoes have been spotted on actors, musicians, politicians, and tech executives — people who have in common an active, achievement-oriented lifestyle, and who tend to gravitate toward products that signal quality without shouting about it. The Swiss aesthetic (clean, minimal, technically considered) appeals to a demographic that finds conventional sportswear branding too loud.
Elite Athletics
On Running sponsors a growing stable of elite athletes, including Hellen Obiri (Boston and New York Marathon champion), Giulia Steingruber (Olympic gymnastics medallist), and multiple Olympic and World Championship medalists across track and field. These results give On legitimate performance credibility beyond lifestyle appeal.
The "Quiet Premium" Appeal
On Running occupies an interesting position: premium enough to signal quality, understated enough not to be ostentatious. This "quiet luxury" aesthetic aligns with a broader cultural shift away from logo-heavy branding and toward considered, technical products. The CloudTec outsole is distinctive without being aggressive.
The Gym-to-Street Crossover
One of On Running's biggest commercial advantages is that their shoes actually look good off the running track. Many performance running shoes are technically excellent but visually awkward outside of athletic contexts — the over-engineered look and bold colourways that work in a race feel wrong with jeans or casual clothing.
On Running's design language is deliberately versatile. The Swiss minimalism of the upper, combined with the CloudTec outsole as the only real visual statement, creates a shoe that works in the gym, on a run, and in a city context without looking out of place in any of them.
Where On Running Shoes Work
- Morning run — CloudTec and Speedboard deliver genuine performance
- Gym session — stable platform, good lateral support for training
- Commute — lightweight, clean enough for office-adjacent wear
- Weekend casuals — the Cloudtilt, Cloud 5, and Cloudnova are lifestyle shoes that look genuinely good
- Travel — versatile enough for airport, city walks, and unexpected runs
This versatility matters commercially. When someone can justify a £150 shoe by wearing it seven days a week across multiple activities, the cost-per-wear calculation becomes significantly more attractive.
Why They Feel Different on Hard Surfaces
One factor that often goes unmentioned in On Running's popularity is simply how they feel on hard surfaces. UK pavements, city centre concrete, and office floors are relentlessly unforgiving. Most trainers that look good on these surfaces don't actually cushion them well.
CloudTec provides meaningful cushioning on hard urban surfaces. The pod compression absorbs the sharp feedback from concrete in a way that standard EVA foam in similarly-priced lifestyle shoes doesn't match. People who wear On Running for city walking consistently report that their feet and knees feel less battered at the end of the day compared to other premium trainers at the same price.
The Word-of-Mouth Factor
On Running's growth has been significantly driven by word of mouth. When someone buys a pair for a friend's recommendation and they genuinely feel different from the previous shoe, they tell people. This organic loop — buy, experience, recommend — has been more powerful for On than almost any other running brand in recent years.
Shop On Running at OD's
Every pair below is in stock at OD's Designer Clothing — authorised UK stockist, full manufacturer warranty.
Social Media Visibility and Race Results
The CloudTec outsole is inherently photogenic. On Running shoes have a visual character that reads well in photos — the distinctive pod structure, the clean upper, and the brand's Swiss colour palette (often white, grey, navy, and muted naturals) all photograph well. This has made them a natural fit for the running community's love of kit photography on Strava, Instagram, and running-focused social platforms.
On the competitive side, On Running's investment in elite athlete sponsorships has generated genuine race results. Hellen Obiri winning the Boston and New York Marathons in On shoes provides the kind of performance validation that no amount of marketing can manufacture. When elite marathon runners choose a shoe over commercially tempting alternatives, it demonstrates real performance capability.
Why Social Visibility Has Been Different for On
OD's stocks the full On Running range as an authorised UK stockist. If you want to understand why the brand has taken hold, the quickest way is to try them on.
Shop On Running at OD's →