How On Swiss Performance Is Reframing Sustainability for Today’s Retail Reality

At On Running, sustainability has moved beyond positioning and into operations. It now functions as infrastructure, shaping how product is developed, how supply chains are governed, and how long term growth is managed within an increasingly complex retail environment.

This evolution reflects where the performance and retail sectors are now converging. Sustainability has become a determinant of credibility and resilience, and increasingly, commercial viability. On’s approach offers a clear view into how performance brands are responding to higher expectations from regulators, partners, and consumers alike.

On’s sustainability strategy is anchored in circularity, designed as a continuous system rather than a standalone initiative. The objective is value retention: extending product life, recovering materials, and keeping both products and customers within a managed ecosystem.

The Cyclon program captures this intent. Products are designed for return, materials are recovered, and consumers transition into subsequent product cycles through their accounts. Circularity, in this model, structures how products move through use, return, and reintegration into the system.

Within modern retail, where extended producer responsibility and traceability are rapidly becoming baseline requirements, this approach reflects a transition toward lifecycle accountability as a core operating standard rather than a future ambition.

On’s recommerce efforts through Onward reinforce the same logic. Secondary markets are incorporated into lifecycle planning, signaling that sustainability now includes ownership of value beyond the first transaction.

Furthermore, material innovation provides the foundation for On’s sustainability strategy. The focus has moved beyond recycled content toward alternative feedstocks that reduce environmental impact while maintaining performance standards.

A perfect example is how CleanCloud illustrates this approach. Developed with supply chain partners, it converts carbon emissions into high performance EVA foam. The result is a material strategy grounded in engineering, scalability, and durability rather than narrative alone.

In a crowded performance market, material innovation of this depth supports premium positioning, margin discipline, and long term brand confidence. Sustainability that begins at the material level increasingly determines which brands maintain authority.

Operational Transparency

On reports renewable electricity usage across offices and retail locations, coal phase out among Tier 1 suppliers, and emissions disclosures that distinguish absolute growth from intensity metrics. These practices signal readiness for tightening regulatory oversight and more rigorous partner expectations.

Transparency, in this context, now functions as governance, signaling control, consistency, and long term accountability across multiple markets. Furthermore, On organizes its sustainability strategy across four key pillars: foundations, social impact, material innovation, and circularity. This structure naturally embeds sustainability across the operating model rather than isolating it within individual initiatives.

Progress is then managed as a continuous process, one that accommodates growth-driven complexity while allowing targets to evolve without compromising reporting discipline. This mirrors how sustainability now sits alongside sourcing, production, and distribution within leading retail organizations.

Sustainability in and of itself, now governs how products are designed, how supply chains operate, and how brands remain viable in an environment defined by tightening standards and rising scrutiny. For performance brands and retailers alike, sustainability has become the infrastructure in modern retail.