The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 26 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 2 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Marolf: On Running's LightSpray produces shoes in three minutes without human labor
“Other than that, I think Light Sprays is just, her latest innovation is, is just a very interesting piece of an innovation platform that we're building out. It can be seen as controversial because you make a shoe in three minutes and you don't need any humans,…”
Marolf: Positioning a marathon shoe for 'slower runners' was a product mistake
“This year I definitely would say it's that slow marathon running product that rightfully so probably the community didn't get, because if you have that ambition, why would you want to wear a shoe for the slower runner? Even if you are that there's a lot of hea…”
Marolf: Small design details drive more consumer impact than complex engineering
“And so it's the smaller parts that have a bigger impact than the hours and days and weeks we spent with a sports science team engineering a foam so that you can do your five K and not have your back hurting in the evening.”
Marolf: Great products trigger slight consumer discomfort
“Every great product, you should probably trigger somewhat of that slight discomfort of challenging yourself of, is it the right thing for me?”
Marolf: On Running aims to be the world's most premium sportswear brand
“A sportswear brand that, that strives to be the most premium sportswear brand on the planet. And the word premium is in there and he's certainly part of the reasoning why we look at it that way.”
Marolf: On Listened Too Much to Demand for Hybrid Footwear
“We probably listened to customers when it comes to the space that exists between sports and lifestyle too much.”
Marolf: On would have explored non-vegan tennis shoe materials earlier
“We probably would have explored different materials earlier, whereas I think we took a very conscious decision to make that a vegan product for all the sustainability reasons behind it, where then durability is sort of the other side of the equation. And we pr…”
Allemann: Perfection beats efficiency in product development over 80/20 optimization
“I feel doing something to perfection in many cases beats kind of optimizing for efficiency, especially when it comes to product. Not always true, but as somebody who's very much focused on product, I'm more 120%.”
Allemann: Roger Federer invested in On Running instead of taking cash endorsement
“But how about not us giving you money, but you giving us money and becoming a co-investor and a co-entrepreneur together with us and To our surprise, Roger said, yes, that's what I'm gonna do.”
Marolf: Perfume liquid costs less to produce than its packaging
“What is nicer about perfume is that it even costs less to make than the actual packaging, which for us is slightly different”
Marolf: Running culture baseline prevents On from compromising product quality
“So running and coming from running and having run culture as a base is just a great starting point because we simply can't fuck up. You cannot give people a product that they cannot do their half marathon in.”
Marolf: Striving to be first in product innovation attracts top engineering talent
“The ambition to be first helps to attract great talent. It helps to bring in engineers. It helps to bring in innovators. And it gives you clarity in your roadmap to what you're doing.”
Marolf: On Running delayed marathon shoes by seeking engineering perfection
“We tried really hard to be probably overly precise in the product that we do, and that means that engineering is slightly slower, and you should leave a bit more to the consumer or the runner in that case to make up their minds. We're striving for perfection, …”
Dave Powers: Hoka and On hold small global market shares with huge upside
“Between the two of us, our market shares are still relatively small globally. There's so, so much potential for both brands to do incredibly well.”
Dave Powers: Running shoe brand loyalty is shifting as consumers try disruptors
“Well, traditionally, they're very loyal, you know, and it's hard to get a consumer that was running in ASICs for 10 years or Saucony for 10 years to switch brands. I think that's changing dramatically. I think people are open to trying different brands now. An…”
Allemann: On Running will expand into full-body apparel and tennis by 2028
“On in five years will be a global sports brand that still very much resonates with our core community, with runners, but also has built a second sport called tennis, and is happening for you on the full body. So not only shoes, but very much also apparel, beca…”
Allemann: Minimalist Swiss design ultimately drove On's brand differentiation
“At the beginning people told us, don't do that, that you need the running shoe bling because that's gonna put you at a disadvantage and we did it anyhow. And so at first it probably was almost a little bit an inhibitor but it made it to a very distinctive desi…”
Allemann: On Running waited too long to invest in broad brand awareness
“Probably back then it probably waited a little bit long until we started to invest into on being bigger out there and being also having this cultural relevance. And so the moment where we see you switch from building a grassroot level brand, To then also build…”
Allemann: On Running nearly died in 2013 following supplier bankruptcy
“In 2013 our production partners called me and said, Hey, David, we have a little problem. Just our factory went broke. So they're shut down and all the materials for Next season's production are already in there, but they haven't been assembled. And so that wa…”
Allemann: Frederik Van Lierde won 2013 Ironman World Championship in On prototype
“Fredrik von Lirde one of the top talents and contenders For the Ironman triathlon on Kona for the world championships he wore our shoe and it was a prototype. So Olivier was always cycling behind him on the running route because Olivier was afraid that the sho…”
Allemann: Hiring non-footwear designers enabled On to break shoe industry conventions
“We had asked Thilo because he's a product designer and Not a shoe designer. He had never designed a shoe. And so we felt that's a good fit with us because we also never were in the shoe business. So let's completely break conventions.”
Allemann: Successful retail maximizes customer interaction time over transaction time
“So people love it because it's maximizing the interaction time and not the transaction time.”
Allemann: Half of On's leadership and all DTC regional leads are female
“If you look at our senior leadership team now today, these are roughly 10 people. Half of them are female. So actually all the regions D to C is all in female hands at On”