The people I saw in NYC wearing On were the same types that wore Hoka 10 years ago. In London, if I see a runner in On, I think they mightn’t have a clue about good shoes. That said, I like some of what they put out, but the demographics covered in the ad campaigns are aspirational. They’re also nowhere in the streetwear space. Zero vibes, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Elmo
That's not true at all. They were at the 'early adopter' end of the bell-curve within fashion and streetwear years ago – Marinne Serre, JW Anderson and more names within fashion used them on the runway. That paved the way for their inline outdoor silhouettes to be adopted by the gorp-core scene, and more recently their collaborations with Loewe and Post Archive Faction have become mainstays within streetwear and fashion. The PAF collab won Hypebeast Sneaker of the Year for 2024...
Being on the runway doesn’t mean it’s adopted on the street. A very small percentage of gorpcore is On. I literally never see that brand around any vibey stuff in the city. Regardless, it’s an opinion
Work to do no doubt. It’s a blessing and a curse to be adopted by the airport crowd. It’s great revenue and growth but you’ve got to evolve beyond it quickly or you go out of style and end up like Allbirds. What’d you think of the On x Kith collab?
Very true. I’ve no doubt they’ll successfully make that jump, but no clue when 🤷♂️
New Kith collab looks good on the models, but it’ll never be seen on the street. Same old story with On. Nice campaign visuals, but nobody cool wears the stuff
I think ON is very prominent and a lot of people (myself included) are unsure about why the brand speaks to them. Having a million models gets confusing to choose the right cloud for you. They have done a great job with shoes trials, this is such an important thing for a consumer. The storytelling in terms of product features ( garden hose ) is important to help continue the conversation after purchase. Although it seems they are just holding on to this as part of their identity now.
I think the wholesale focus needs attention because those core running stores are a connection to something the internet cannot provide. Community , connection , trust and accessibility to knowing people are running in your neighbourhood or city is important.
They will continue to grow, just hope that the shoes become a better version of what came before and not just better marketing. Excited to see how they approach it.
I gotta say, I think the Soft Wins campaign is pure gaslighting. The Cloudsurfer 2 are one of the least soft daily trainers on the market. Far firmer than v1, objectively. It’s not surprising, their brand was built on gaslighting, convincing people their cloud pods were soft when they were the opposite. They’re one of the best selling brands in run retail, but guess what- they’re also the number one returned brand as well. I want the brand to succeed, I love what they’re doing with athletes, but if you keep putting our mediocre product, then sooner or later, those chickens will come home to roost.
Hot takes Robbe!! 🌶️🌶️ maybe I’m biased bc I don’t like a high stack crazy soft shoe but the Cloudsurfer 2 felt plenty cushy to me! I never ran in the first version. These are the first pair of On shoes I would include in my rotation tho. I’m looking forward to trying the trail shoes coming out soon. Have you gotten your hands on those yet?
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills when it comes to On 😂 The Cloudsurfer 2 is not a *bad* shoe, it’s just very average, especially at $160. In the world of Hoka, New Balance, Nike, ASICS, it’s the least soft of the Clifton/1080/Peg/Nimbus/. I’m interested in their trail stuff, also the Cloudboom Max.
A good friend of mine created the Elmo campaign. I joked with him saying you missed a good opportunity to bring in Count von Count especially to help with counting miles/kilometers
ON still has room to grow internationally, with 67% of its sales coming from the U.S. market. Since they initially didn’t aim to be a lifestyle brand, they focused on their core categories: running and tennis.
I think On is on the right path now, after being available at huge discounts in department stores all over Germany for years and conquering the over 60 yo mainstream... Now they focus more on performance and got rid of their weird soles, which is a good start. Their apparel was always so much better than the shoes...
"Nike made the best Super Bowl ad of the year." - AdWeek. Definitely my opinion as well; I'm going watch this again because it's that fun (have a look yourself). It won the Super Clio, and previous ads have won Emmy's.
On has been very successful, quickly breaking out of the churn to be a global player. They used to serve excellent fondue from their booth at Euro trade-shows - got my attention! They are Swiss, and did everything with style. And have a cool name, which should not be discounted. I think their sponsorship of pro runners is tangential to their success.
I don’t place much emphasis on the back patting of those awards. I think the execution of the Nike ad was fantastic. The female emphasis is excellent and also timely. Above all that though is the strategic decision to double down on a lens that views the world around intensity and winning. On took the opposite approach. Time will tell how it plays out.
It’s valued awfully high right now. I also think this potential for rising costs weighs on it. It’s wasn’t downgraded to a sell, just to hold and only by Goldman from what I saw.
Great read as always!
The people I saw in NYC wearing On were the same types that wore Hoka 10 years ago. In London, if I see a runner in On, I think they mightn’t have a clue about good shoes. That said, I like some of what they put out, but the demographics covered in the ad campaigns are aspirational. They’re also nowhere in the streetwear space. Zero vibes, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Elmo
That's not true at all. They were at the 'early adopter' end of the bell-curve within fashion and streetwear years ago – Marinne Serre, JW Anderson and more names within fashion used them on the runway. That paved the way for their inline outdoor silhouettes to be adopted by the gorp-core scene, and more recently their collaborations with Loewe and Post Archive Faction have become mainstays within streetwear and fashion. The PAF collab won Hypebeast Sneaker of the Year for 2024...
Being on the runway doesn’t mean it’s adopted on the street. A very small percentage of gorpcore is On. I literally never see that brand around any vibey stuff in the city. Regardless, it’s an opinion
Work to do no doubt. It’s a blessing and a curse to be adopted by the airport crowd. It’s great revenue and growth but you’ve got to evolve beyond it quickly or you go out of style and end up like Allbirds. What’d you think of the On x Kith collab?
Very true. I’ve no doubt they’ll successfully make that jump, but no clue when 🤷♂️
New Kith collab looks good on the models, but it’ll never be seen on the street. Same old story with On. Nice campaign visuals, but nobody cool wears the stuff
Really nice post, Matt.
Thank you Dre!
Thanks for putting this together. Very well done.
I think ON is very prominent and a lot of people (myself included) are unsure about why the brand speaks to them. Having a million models gets confusing to choose the right cloud for you. They have done a great job with shoes trials, this is such an important thing for a consumer. The storytelling in terms of product features ( garden hose ) is important to help continue the conversation after purchase. Although it seems they are just holding on to this as part of their identity now.
I think the wholesale focus needs attention because those core running stores are a connection to something the internet cannot provide. Community , connection , trust and accessibility to knowing people are running in your neighbourhood or city is important.
They will continue to grow, just hope that the shoes become a better version of what came before and not just better marketing. Excited to see how they approach it.
I gotta say, I think the Soft Wins campaign is pure gaslighting. The Cloudsurfer 2 are one of the least soft daily trainers on the market. Far firmer than v1, objectively. It’s not surprising, their brand was built on gaslighting, convincing people their cloud pods were soft when they were the opposite. They’re one of the best selling brands in run retail, but guess what- they’re also the number one returned brand as well. I want the brand to succeed, I love what they’re doing with athletes, but if you keep putting our mediocre product, then sooner or later, those chickens will come home to roost.
Hot takes Robbe!! 🌶️🌶️ maybe I’m biased bc I don’t like a high stack crazy soft shoe but the Cloudsurfer 2 felt plenty cushy to me! I never ran in the first version. These are the first pair of On shoes I would include in my rotation tho. I’m looking forward to trying the trail shoes coming out soon. Have you gotten your hands on those yet?
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills when it comes to On 😂 The Cloudsurfer 2 is not a *bad* shoe, it’s just very average, especially at $160. In the world of Hoka, New Balance, Nike, ASICS, it’s the least soft of the Clifton/1080/Peg/Nimbus/. I’m interested in their trail stuff, also the Cloudboom Max.
A good friend of mine created the Elmo campaign. I joked with him saying you missed a good opportunity to bring in Count von Count especially to help with counting miles/kilometers
ON still has room to grow internationally, with 67% of its sales coming from the U.S. market. Since they initially didn’t aim to be a lifestyle brand, they focused on their core categories: running and tennis.
I think On is on the right path now, after being available at huge discounts in department stores all over Germany for years and conquering the over 60 yo mainstream... Now they focus more on performance and got rid of their weird soles, which is a good start. Their apparel was always so much better than the shoes...
I think the shoes may be coming around. They’ve spent a lot of time developing new trail shoes we will see this year. I’m excited to try them.
Looking forward to your review!
"Nike made the best Super Bowl ad of the year." - AdWeek. Definitely my opinion as well; I'm going watch this again because it's that fun (have a look yourself). It won the Super Clio, and previous ads have won Emmy's.
On has been very successful, quickly breaking out of the churn to be a global player. They used to serve excellent fondue from their booth at Euro trade-shows - got my attention! They are Swiss, and did everything with style. And have a cool name, which should not be discounted. I think their sponsorship of pro runners is tangential to their success.
I agree with the Nike ad - so powerful and energetic, like the old days!
I don’t place much emphasis on the back patting of those awards. I think the execution of the Nike ad was fantastic. The female emphasis is excellent and also timely. Above all that though is the strategic decision to double down on a lens that views the world around intensity and winning. On took the opposite approach. Time will tell how it plays out.
On's share price has dropped 12% YTD. And down 2.5% today. I guess you are not the only person who can't work out what the business strategy means.
It’s valued awfully high right now. I also think this potential for rising costs weighs on it. It’s wasn’t downgraded to a sell, just to hold and only by Goldman from what I saw.