Executive Briefing
Would you subscribe to these shoes?
The “end of ownership” is coming for your running gear.
By Dan Frommer on Monday, September 21, 2020 at 8:00 am
On, the fast-growing running gear company based in Switzerland, has a new, lightweight shoe coming out next year, called the Cyclon.
Unlike its previous shoes, the company says Cyclon is 100% recyclable, made largely with a bio-polymer derived from castor beans. Also unlike its previous shoes, you won’t be able to buy Cyclon — you can only subscribe to them as a $30 monthly service.
The idea is that every six months or so, when it’s time to get a new pair — runners are expected to replace their shoes every few hundred miles for performance, safety, and comfort — you’ll request a new set and mail your used ones back to On. They’ll then recycle them. And because it’s a service, you’ll just keep paying the same subscription fee.
Will this work? Is this simply how people will get shoes and gear in the future? And might this become an important model for more of the apparel business?
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