RUNNING WITH INTENTION

With its new flagship at Singapore's Jewel Changi Airport, Swiss sportswear label On sets its sights on Southeast Asia. CEO Martin Hoffmann reflects on leading through change—and what it takes to build a global movement

- Nafeesa Saini

A few days before we were scheduled to meet Martin Hoffmann, chief executive of Swiss sportswear brand On, a TikTok clip began circulating among the art world set. Captured at the Art Basel Preview in June, the camera panned across the fair's VIP crowd, before tilting down to land on a now-familiar silhouette: the On Cloud sneaker, worn by a well-heeled—or well-soled—cohort of collectors, curators and creatives who move fluidly between blue-chip auctions and biodynamic vineyards.

On has become something of a status symbol—more accessible price-wise than a sneaker from a luxury house, perhaps, but still loaded with cultural cachet. To wear On is to signal a preference for high performance and clean design. With its unmistakable silhouette—an outsole punctuated with hollowed “Cloud pods” engineered for soft landings—On's design delivers both function and form, resonating with a global community attuned to performance and pared-back elegance.

Its story begins with a quest for sensation. Olivier Bernhard, a former professional triathlete and one of the brand's three co-founders, began prototyping the sole by cutting a garden hose into pieces and gluing them beneath a running shoe. That crude experiment gave rise to the company’s patented CloudTec cushioning system, engineered to provide a cushioned landing followed by explosive takeoff.