I HAVE JUST returned from Zurich, Switzerland, and am still in awe, mystified, for there is no other way to say this, I have witnessed the miraculous. In a few short weeks, innovative Swiss sportswear brand On will launch the Cloudboom Strike LS, the first On shoe to feature their revolutionary new high-performance upper technology LightSpray™, and everything you know about high-performance footwear will change.
In development since 2020, On have produced a robotic arm capable of spraying an ultralight one-piece upper (that is, the entire part of the shoe that covers the foot), in a fast, automated, one-step manufacturing process straight out of The Jetsons and trust us, it will completely disrupt and revolutionise the footwear industry.
Let me say this again, because it bears repeating: I have seen, with my own eyes, in a top-secret room, behind glass, at On’s state of the art lab, a robotic arm spray – yes, spray – an upper using 1.5 kilometres of spider-web-like continuous filament that instantly joins to their already iconic CloudTech® embedded midsoles, creating a high-performance running shoe in three minutes. Oh yeah, and they have ditched the laces.
“Before the 60s, all shoes were made by hand. The last revolution was 10 or 15 years ago to make the shoes we know now,” says Johannes Voelchert, the mastermind behind the revolutionary new technology, as I hold all 170 grams of the running shoe his robot had just created in my hand. “But this is an entirely new way of doing things. We kept asking ourselves: what does the athlete want? How can we make this more performing?”
What began as an initial prototype based on an industrial hot glue gun, has through rigorous, instantaneous testing that saw thousands of prototypes given to On athletes for feedback and collection of real-time data, allowed On to create a high-performance shoe that provides exceptional fit and support. Even better – it reduces the conventional shoe parts from thirty-four to seven, cutting carbon emissions by 75 per cent.
Key to their disruptive manufacturing process, On employed people who had never worked with footwear in order to rethink what a high-performance shoe could be. “LightSpray™ came about because we implemented computational design and searched for solutions that didn’t exist,” says Maia Zheliazkova, On LightSpray™ senior specialist and computational designer. “We did everything from scratch. Instead of manually drafting each part of the shoe, the upper, we designed algorithms that would design and optimise the shapes and outcomes.
“When you have thirty or forty different products making up a shoe, it is very difficult to change just one bit of foam or lining to see what difference that might make’, says Dina Weisheit, a sports scientist. “So, we tested lots of options on different athletes in different environments: Tuscany, Italy; Boulder, Colorado. We take away all the distracting parts of the shoe, which means Lightspray is a seamless interaction between the foot, athlete and product.”
Of course, none of this would matter if the shoe could not perform. Rest assured, it can. On athletes, including 4x World Champion runner, and winner of the Boston and New York City marathon, Hellen Obiri, wore a development version of the Cloudboom Strike LS when she won the Boston Marathon for the second year in a row. Celebrated marathon runner Chris Thompson was the first professional athlete to run in the shoe.
“The shoes made him feel ten years younger, like he was floating,’ says Nils Arne, head of innovation at On. “It’s pretty amazing because what began as a manufacturing prototype by Johannes, initially based on this hot glue gun design, has allowed us to work hand in hand with athletes to achieve their dreams.”
It was then that I asked – a more accurate description might be politely demanded – to try the shoes on myself. I was, I told them, something of a marathon runner myself, or at the very least, a half-marathon runner training up for my first marathon, but a seasoned half-marathon runner nonetheless. “Please,” Zheliazkova said. “Be my guest.”
Immediately, and with surprising ease, my foot slipped into the shoe, and I felt a pleasant, reassuring purchase, something like a comforting constriction that encased my ankle. But it was when I took my first step, and then another, that a gleaming smile spread across my face. “It feels,” I said, searching for words, like an overstimulated sommelier trying to describe a never before opened bottle of Shiraz, “Like my foot is being hugged, while wearing nothing at all.” “Exactly!” Zheliazkova said. I then tried, unsuccessfully, to run out of the room, with the intention to keep running, perhaps, all the way back to Paris, but I was stopped at the door.
Like the rest of the world, I must wait, patiently, for the Cloudboom Strike LS, the first On shoe featuring LightSprayTM technology, to be released. “But when?” I asked. “Soon,” I was assured. “Very soon.”
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