Nike said no to the idea. Sixteen years later, the company that built it has Kylian Mbappé helping to design its first football boot. That is the irresistible headline behind On's newest chapter, but it is also only half the story. The Swiss brand did not reach football by buying its way into the conversation overnight. It spent years turning an unusual cushioning experiment into one of the most recognisable silhouettes in modern footwear, then used athletes not simply as billboards but as collaborators. Mbappé is the biggest expression of that strategy yet.
The origin story has become sportswear folklore. Retired Swiss endurance athlete Olivier Bernhard wanted a running shoe that could land softly and still push off firmly. The most repeated version involves sections of garden hose attached beneath a shoe, although later reporting makes the useful distinction that an engineer developed the original technology and Bernhard recognised its potential. What matters is what happened next. Bernhard took the concept to Nike, the company sponsoring him at the time, and it went nowhere. Instead of dropping the idea, he joined David Allemann and Caspar Coppetti to launch On in 2010.
Those hollow pods beneath the sole became CloudTec, a design that looked strange before it looked inevitable. The first attraction was easy to explain: visible cushioning that compressed on landing and created a noticeably different underfoot sensation. The larger achievement was turning that technology into a brand language. On shoes could be identified across a room, whether worn for a morning run, an airport sprint or a full day in the city. The company understood early that performance credibility and everyday desirability did not have to live in separate products.
Roger Federer accelerated that transformation in 2019. He was not recruited through a conventional campaign; he had already discovered the shoes and worn them before the company approached him. Federer became an investor and product collaborator, helping On move beyond running through The Roger footwear line. His involvement offered something more valuable than celebrity visibility. It gave the young company a model for working with an elite athlete as a long-term creative and business partner, not simply renting a famous face for an advertising season.
The numbers show how far that model has travelled. On reported net sales of CHF 3.014 billion for 2025, an increase of 30 percent from the previous year, while sales in Asia-Pacific rose even faster. A company once defined by a peculiar sole has become a global premium sportswear force spanning running, outdoor, training, tennis and lifestyle. Football is therefore not a rescue mission or a speculative side project. It is an expansion launched from the strongest position in the brand's history.
On officially entered football on 18 September 2026 with Mbappé at the centre of the project. The move brought his long association with Nike to an end and placed one of the sport's most influential players inside a challenger brand at the moment it needed a credible entrance. Yet On is presenting him as more than the face of a launch. Mbappé will work directly with its product teams, bringing experience from the highest level into the development and testing of future footwear and apparel. He is also a global partner beyond the pitch, connecting football with movement, design and the wider culture around sport.
That distinction is important because On is not arriving with a finished boot and asking Mbappé to sell it. The product is still being built. The brand says its first football range is planned for 2027, with both laced and laceless options under development. This makes the public announcement feel less like the end of a secret project than an invitation to watch the experiment unfold. Mbappé is lending his name, but he is also being asked to influence fit, touch, movement and the demands placed on a modern speed boot.
On has surrounded him with people who make the ambition harder to dismiss. Thierry Henry, who had been working behind the scenes since late 2025, is now Director of Football. His role stretches across product, athlete relationships and the culture of the sport. Swiss international and FC Barcelona player Sydney Schertenleib is contributing directly to development and testing, bringing the women's game into the process at its foundation rather than adding it later. Together, they give On three perspectives: an active global superstar, a legendary player with strategic authority and one of the most promising voices of the next generation.
The technical centre of the project is LightSpray, On's robotic manufacturing process that forms an upper from a continuous sprayed filament. Introduced in running, the method reduces a complicated multi-part upper to a lightweight and seamless construction made in minutes. For football, On is adapting it towards a close, second-skin feel while developing sport-specific fits and stud arrangements. The promise is compelling, but the honest verdict must wait. Until the production boot arrives in 2027 and performs through actual matches, innovation remains a direction rather than proof.
Even so, the strategic meaning is already clear. Nike and adidas have spent decades building football ecosystems around clubs, national teams, signature athletes and boots that become part of a player's identity. On is entering without that inherited machinery, which gives it less security but more freedom. It can question why boots are constructed in the same familiar layers, why athlete partnerships usually begin after the product is finished and why the line between pitch performance and street style remains so rigid. The company has already used those questions to disrupt running. Football is a much larger and less forgiving test.
The full-circle quality of the story is difficult to ignore. A runner brings a cushioning concept to the world's biggest sportswear company and leaves without a deal. He builds the idea independently, turns its strange-looking sole into a global symbol, welcomes Roger Federer as an investor and co-creator, and eventually attracts a footballer who had been tied to Nike since childhood. On has moved from asking an incumbent to believe in its technology to persuading one of the incumbent's defining athletes to help create what comes next.
You do not need to wait for the first On football boot to understand why the brand has earned that confidence. Visit SneakSurf stores across Singapore to experience On's current footwear in person, compare everyday favourites such as the Cloud 6, Cloudtilt, Cloudmonster and Cloudsurfer families, and find the feel that suits your routine with our team. You can also explore the latest On arrivals through the SneakSurf online store wherever you are or visit SneakSurf store at Suntec, Bugis or Tampines. Styles, sizes and availability may vary, so check the current selection before your next move.