On Running welcomes Roger Federer to the family

By

Olivier Guyot

Published
Nov 26, 2019

In October, Roger Federer picked up the 103rd title of his career in Basel, his home turf. It's not sure that the 38-year-old Swiss sportsman will be hanging up his racket in 2020 but it seems that the current men's tennis world number three is already getting involved in other projects. Indeed, on 23 November, independent Swiss brand On Running announced through its social channels that its compatriot has joined the venture as an entrepreneur. 

"As an entrepreneur, [Federer] will work with us to create the next generation of Swiss-engineered performance shoes and the future of On," explained the brand in an Instagram post. "He’ll help us keep building the athlete spirit in our winning team. Because if there's anyone who knows about winning, it’s him."

According to information given to The New York Times, Federer will be more than an ambassador and has already worked on new products that will be presented in 2020. The Swiss tennis star will participate in "brand building and global marketing," which is to say he will have operational responsibilities. It seems that Federer will also hold a role on the team of the young Zurich-based brand. He told the American daily newspaper that he will contribute his experience on "how to connect fans across cultures," adding, "I think I can motivate employees from a leadership perspective too, on how to stay humble but dream big."

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The deal with the tennis legend, who is also linked to Uniqlo via a 300 million euro contract until 2027, will bring a new level of global visibility to On Running. When contacted by FashionNetwork.com, On specified that the official launch of the collaboration would take place in New York on Monday. 

The brand will no doubt see its exposure explode, while its new A-list partner will also bring his own perspective, informed by his experience as an international-level professional, which will support the development of new product categories at On.

On Running was founded in 2010 by three founders who wanted to propose a different solution to the existing offer for running fans. At the time, the activity was gaining popularity and attracting increasing numbers of practitioners. Thanks to the hard work of professional athlete Olivier Bernhard and his friends David Allemann and Caspar Coppetti, the brand made a name for itself with its Cloud model, which used new technology (dubbed Cloudtec) and offered a style that had never been seen before on the market. 

And this was just the beginning of the brand's success story. On has revealed that its annual sales growth is, on average, 90% and that it was 70% this year. The brand did not, however, divulge its total revenue.

On Running is currently present at some 7,000 points of sale spread across almost 60 countries. According to Matt Powell, senior sports industry adviser at the NPD Group, On is, along with Hoka One One, the brand currently seeing the strongest growth on the running market. And that means its also eating up market share. Above all, the brand, which employs around 500 people, is now moving into new categories, developing its apparel offering and introducing a lifestyle range, which was recently launched at Atmos, Tokyo.

According to a number of recent studies, the global running shoe market is currently worth around $13 billion. Looking forward, the different predictions concerning the sector's annual growth range from 4.5% to 5% until 2024.