On Holding AG executives see long runway growth ahead, helped by some powerful traction with younger consumers.
With premium positioning in place, shoes from On are resonating with athletes and fashion fans alike as collaborations, such as the one with Burna Boy, are getting the attention of younger consumers.
“Our mission to ignite the human spirit through movement is resonating worldwide and across multiple categories,” cofounder and executive co-chairman Caspar Coppetti told investors at the company’s earnings conference call on Wednesday. “This quarter’s performance is the direct result of our premium strategy in action, delivering incredibly strong growth and record profitability.”
For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, On said net income rose 289.8 percent to 118.9 million Swiss francs on a net sales gain of 24.9 percent to 794.4 million Swiss francs. Investors liked the results and sent shares of On up nearly 18 percent to close Wednesday’s trading session on the Big Board at $41.51.
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Coppetti said for all the athletes competing across the brand’s portfolio of sports from track and filed to trail running to triathlon and tennis, On “strongly connected” with audiences around the world, adding that Asia Pacific is the company’s “fastest-growing reach” and representing the fourth consecutive quarter of triple-digit constant currency growth.
The brand’s new Ginza store provided a backdrop of the brand’s innovation as Tokyo hosted this year’s World Athletics Championships. He noted that Geordie Beamish, Ditaji Kambundji and Isabell Whittaker won On’s first-ever track and field gold medals. “These successes matter. Consumers are increasingly watching how brands perform in competition, and On is exceptionally well-positioned,” he said.
He also cited Hellen Obiri’s 2025 New York City Marathon win — she chose to race wearing On’s Cloudboom Strike LightSpray — as proof of On’s “advanced footwear technologies.” Coppetti said the win demonstrates that the brand’s newest technology is being “trusted and adopted” the world’s best athletes. “Our strategy is clear: technology is proven at the highest level of competition and then refined to deliver the best experience for every type of run,” he said.
The cofounder said that its core performance running franchises — Cloudsurfer, Cloudmonster and Cloudrunner — are the engines that have driven “sustained growth” in the run category, adding how the company has re-energized the Cloudsurfer franchise. The most recent was the newly-launched Cloudsurfer Max this past summer, which he said ranked among the top five selling models with key run specialty partners in its very first month.
Setting the stage for 2026, he said On is seeing a strong order book for the new Cloudrunner 3 and Cloudmonster 3, which will launch in the first quarter, while other additions will come in fall/winter ’26 showcasing engineering and foam innovations. Coppetti also noted that LightSpray will help redefine the category and elevate On’s entire running assortment. He said the company will bring its championship level technology for the first time to everyday runners with its LightSpray Cloudmonster Hyper.
Coppetti also said that its premium strategy is working for the Roger Federer owned-brand. “Our relentless focus on innovation has built a durable multidimensional growth engine, an engine that is built for the long run. Fueled by our accelerated global brand heat and awareness, the foundation for our next chapter of premium growth is stronger than ever,” he said.
Martin Hoffmann, CEO and CFO, said the company is differentiated from the competition by its premium position. “Our vision is and will remain to be the most premium global sportswear brand,” he said.
The CEO said its apparel offering is driving incremental high-value growth across its distribution channels, adding that a focus on operational excellence and technology is “transforming the way we work.”
“We have structurally reduced lead times and enhanced how we plan and run the business with intelligent tools powering our integrated planning,” Hoffmann explained. “We are building a faster and more agile company that is a stronger partner for suppliers, retailers and consumers. More and more, AI becomes a core component to how we operate across all areas of the business and engage with our fans.”
Hoffman said that in performance, the Cloudmonster continues to win new fans, while in lifestyle, the Cloudtilt, Cloud and the Roger — co-designed by Federer — “continue to see tremendous demand. This combination of elite performance products and the distinctive edge in the lifestyle segment is what sets On apart.”
For the quarter, the CEO said that timing lag between U.S. price increases and the full impact of additional U.S. tariffs led to a slightly positive margin effect in the third quarter, although he did caution that it should be considered a temporary benefit.
Given On’s brand momentum, positive trends in the first four weeks of the fourth quarter, new launches such as the first co-created product with Loewe, the Cloud Solo x Loewe, and sales during Golden Week in China, Hoffmann said the company was raising its 2025 guidance and now expects net sales to grow by 34 percent year-over-year on a constant currency basis, ahead of prior estimates of at least 31 percent.
Hoffman also said that the strength of the product pipeline, as indicated by the current order book, is helping to drive a growth trajectory “well ahead of the targets” outlined at our Investor Day in October 2023. Those targets included a 26 percent increase in net sales by 2026 in constant currency growth at CAGR (compound annual growth rate) over three years. “We are on track to complete the first two full years of our three-year plan in excess of 33 percent constant currency growth each year,” he said.
On earlier this year opened a new footwear production facility in Zurich. The LightSpray factory features four robots that can manufacture all the uppers for the brand’s performance running shoes in a fully automated and industrially scalable process in just three minutes.
In September, the brand welcomed singer Burna Boy to its ambassador team in a multi-year partnership. Coppetti said consumers in its running categories have tended to be older, but collaborations with “generational talent” like Burna Boy has helped the brand gain traction with younger consumers.
“If you’re going across high schools in the U.S., especially in more affluent neighborhoods, you’ll see the cool kids wearing [an On shoe], right? That’s a relatively new phenom. That’s not something we’re chasing. It’s not that we depend on the market. But it’s, of course, very inspiring that we were able to connect to this younger target group,” Coppetti said.
The brand also recently launched a kids line, which the cofounder said as “going phenomenally well. It’s really hard to keep it in stock.”
