On Running Has Become Fashion's Favourite Sports Brand

You can usually tell when a sportswear brand crosses into fashion because it stops living only in gyms and starts showing up at dinners, airports, and fashion week queues. On Running hit that point somewhere between Roger Federer investing in the company, Zendaya co-designing a full collection with Spike Jonze directing the campaign, and the moment you started noticing their shoes on literally everyone, the runner in the park, the fashion editor at the show, the person next to you on the metro who clearly did not run here.

The Swiss brand was established in 2010 with a single focus: creating a running shoe that offered a unique feel underfoot. What began as an experiment in a Swiss lab evolved into CloudTec technology — the hallmark honeycomb sole design that features in every shoe On produces. Offering soft landings and powerful takeoffs, On has carved out a unique niche between marathon culture and fashion week street style, a space that few sportswear brands can rival, appealing to both serious athletes and fashion-forward individuals alike.

Sixteen years later, that same dedication has led to the creation of one of the most culturally significant sportswear brands globally. At this moment, On is experiencing its greatest success.

The Cloudmonster franchise started in 2022 as On's first real answer to the max-cushion running boom. After three updated versions, it has become the clearest statement of what On stands for. The shoes are technically strong and made for real performance, but they still feel playful, bold, and visually expressive.

The Cloudmonster 3 is the everyday version, a daily trainer built around triple-layer CloudTec cushioning. Its updated cushioning and smooth forward roll make runs feel lighter, easier, and more comfortable — whether you are clocking serious miles or simply moving through the day. Think of it as a max-cushion shoe with a bold personality.

For those seeking more, the Cloudmonster 3 Hyper elevates the experience. Created in collaboration with On Athletics Club athletes, it boasts 20% more Helion HF hyper foam than the previous model, offering increased cushioning, resilience, and energy return, all while maintaining a plateless design that helps keep legs fresh during high-mileage weeks.

Then there's the LightSpray Cloudmonster 3 Hyper, which truly stands out. On has dedicated years to developing LightSpray technology—an ultralight upper that fits the foot like a second skin. This is its debut in the Cloudmonster line, resulting in the lightest Cloudmonster ever at just 190 grams, constructed from only eight components. It's a super trainer that also represents On's most innovative engineering achievement yet, with a design that significantly reduces its carbon footprint.

Not every shoe from On is made for running. The Cloud Geo 6 is designed for everyday life. Built for busy days and unpredictable weather, the waterproof shoe is made to move easily from one plan to the next. It features a durable outer design that handles rain and wet streets with ease, while the grippy sole keeps you steady on slippery surfaces. Lightweight cushioning adds all-day comfort, the structured sole keeps the shoe stable, and the easy toggle lacing means you can slip in and out quickly without dealing with traditional laces.

The design is technical without looking it. That balance is exactly why shoes like this have moved beyond performance circles and into everyday wardrobes, where functionality now matters just as much as aesthetics. The layered mudguard gives it a visual identity that sits comfortably in both a performance conversation and a style one, which is exactly where the best everyday shoes live right now.

On's apparel collection follows the same logic as its footwear: functional enough to perform, refined enough that you would reach for it anyway. Clean cuts, considered fabrication, a palette that works outside a gym context. These are pieces you wear as sportswear continues to merge with contemporary fashion; the appeal lies in pieces that work across multiple settings without looking overly engineered or gym-specific. because they happen to be the best version of what you needed that morning.

If there was any remaining debate about where On sits culturally, the Zendaya co-created collection ended it.

This partnership feels creatively involved rather than commercially attached. Zendaya and On developed this collection together — working alongside Law Roach, her longtime collaborator, and On's design team to build something that reflects both her perspective and the brand's engineering DNA. The result is a full wardrobe: Ribbed Tank Tops, T-Shirts, Half-Zip Anoraks, Coach Jackets, Drawstring Midi Skirts, Parachute Pants, Bermuda Shorts. Versatile silhouettes, built to move, designed to work across the kind of day that does not fit neatly into one category. At the centre of the footwear offering sits the Cloudnova Moon — a new take on the Cloudnova silhouette with a sharper, more uncompromising aesthetic edge.

"We wanted to create pieces that feel versatile and easy to wear — styles that move with you across different moments," Zendaya said. "We started with the idea of making people feel confident and effortless, and we built everything out from there."

The campaign behind it, Shape of Dreams, was directed by Spike Jonze, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind some of the most referenced works of the past three decades. He set the film inside Zendaya's imagined design world, The Dream Lab, where the creative process plays out in surreal, boundary-defying form. Still life photography by Sean Thomas runs alongside it. It is the kind of campaign that reminds you that a sportswear brand can still surprise you.

On's Chief Marketing Officer, Alex Griffin summed it up directly: "Zendaya's creative spirit is felt in every detail — shaping how performance and style come together."

On is present in more than 80 countries. Few sportswear brands have managed to move this seamlessly between performance culture and fashion relevance without losing credibility in either space. has collaborated with Loewe, Kith, and Post Archive Faction, and sponsors some of the most-watched athletes in tennis and marathon running. But what makes it genuinely interesting in 2026 is not the scale — it is the consistency of the point of view. Every product On releases comes from a belief that how something performs and how it looks should never be a compromise. That belief is what has turned a Swiss running brand into the thing everyone is wearing right now.