Mission and impact
At On, we're building a fair and inclusive future, driving progress on circularity and renewable materials. For us, impact encompasses both environmental stewardship and social responsibility and the goals that we set to achieve this are deeply woven into the fabric of everything we do. Across our company, we are always assessing and taking into account the needs of both people and the planet. That's why we're committed to reducing our environmental impact while also putting the welfare of our team, our partners and our community at the heart of what we do. We know these are complex challenges and achieving them won't be easy – but this doesn't stop us from pushing forward. We're already making progress. From materials to manufacturing, we're committed to pioneering solutions that lessen our impact for a better tomorrow. From our people to our partners, we're committed to defending everyone's right to move. To deep dive into our impact strategy, we encourage you to read our most recent annual Impact Progress Report.
Yes, we publish an Impact Progress Report every year to provide you with updates on our goals and progress.
We know that to decarbonize and manage our water, chemicals, and waste, we need to establish rigorous management across our supply chain and have clear processes. To do this, we’ve set clear and achievable goals to bring positive change. In 2020, our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets were reviewed and agreed with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and aligned with the Paris Agreement goal of holding average global temperatures at no more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. By 2030, we want to achieve: - 46% absolute reduction in our Scope 1 and 2 emissions - 55% economic intensity reduction in our Scope 3 emissions You can learn more about the progress we've already made in reducing our Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, as well as our approach to water, chemicals and waste in our Impact Progress Report.
A scientific outlook is just the first step. When protecting people and the planet, partnering with like-minded innovators is essential. We're proud to be working with the following organizations that align with our ambitions to drive progress on circularity and renewable materials: Fast Feet Grinded A Dutch company that has developed a shoe recycling installation that pulverizes and separates all types of footwear. On has partnered with Fast Feet Grinded for the recycling of components of damaged shoes. Trove Trove provides companies access to their products in the secondary market by offering a platform that makes it easy for brands to buy back and resell used items. The platform provides brands with the technology and logistics to develop customizable resale channels. Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) EMF is a non-profit organization that supports evidence-based original research on the benefits of a circular economy, and how it can contribute to solving global challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss. On has been working with EMF to provide training in circular principles to our product design and creation teams and has collaborated on testing a new training platform on circularity foundations. Fashion for Good (FFG) As of September 1, 2023, On is a member of the Fashion for Good Innovation Platform. Fashion for Good's mission to foster impactful innovation and drive systemic change in the fashion industry resonates deeply with On's commitment to sustainability and progress. Our involvement with Fashion for Good presents exciting opportunities for collaboration on various pilots and projects with fellow industry partners. Together we will drive innovation and contribute to positive change within the fashion industry, advancing towards a more sustainable future. The Footwear Collective The Footwear Collective has a vision to build a sustainable future for the footwear industry on the foundations of a circular economy. We have formed a collaborative group with The Footwear Collective and other organizations that will be the catalyst for circular footwear at scale. The partnership comprises eight footwear brands and 35 Sustainability Experts across academia, investors, suppliers, and key external industries dedicated to change. Cascale A global alliance of fashion companies, academic institutions, and governmental bodies aims to promote sustainable and responsible practices by providing standardized tools and measurement resources. Textile Exchange A global non-profit that develops, manages, and promotes a suite of leading industry standards to reduce the environmental and social impacts of the textile industry. The Policy Hub An initiative that brings together brands, suppliers, and NGOs to create and advocate for policies that promote sustainability and circularity in the fashion and textile industries. Watershed A leading sustainability platform for emissions measurement, reductions and reporting. Used for tracking Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions. Carbonfact An environmental data platform for apparel and footwear used by brands and suppliers to measure the planetary impact of their products. Vaayu The world’s first automated AI software empowering retail brands and businesses to track and cut environmental impact in real-time. At On, we partner with Vaayu to conduct material and LCA studies. In 2024, we worked together to measure the carbon footprint savings of our LightSpray™ technology.
Transparency and responsible manufacturing
Transparency is at the heart of how we operate – and it requires continuous effort and attention as our company grows.
Here, we're proud to publicly list our Tier 1 and Strategic Tier 2 suppliers. Please check our Transparency page for more information.
The basis of our sustainable and ethical business practices are embedded in our Code of Conduct, our Supplier Code of Conduct and our updated Blueprint for Responsible Manufacturing. The values described in these documents are what unite us and our partners as a team. We believe that human rights are the basis of any sustainable business activity. That's why we expect everyone we work with to demonstrate integrity and respect for people and the planet, while also abiding by applicable laws and regulations. You can find all of these documents, along with more details about all of our responsible manufacturing initiatives on our Transparency page.
We are committed to ensuring safe, fair, and inclusive working conditions for all. Everyone who works with On, including workers in our supply chain, has the right to a good quality of life. Our commitment to ensuring this, through initiatives like implementing a living wage, is integral to our business values, and we work with our suppliers to strive to uphold it. As of 2024, all T1 Footwear facilities in Vietnam pay an average of 80% above the locally mandated legal minimum wage, and seven out of ten of our footwear suppliers in Vietnam meet the Global Living Wage Coalition (“GLWC”) benchmark. These suppliers represent roughly 90% of On’s footwear production by volume in Vietnam and 80% of our global footwear production by volume. In 2025, we are committed to carrying out detailed assessments of the fair living wage for all of our global Tier 1 facilities for footwear, apparel, and accessories. We use GLWC’s benchmarks because they provide a comprehensive, reliable, and globally recognized methodology for estimating living wages. The Anker Methodology, used by the GLWC, takes into account local costs and collaborates with local communities to estimate the cost of a decent lifestyle for a worker and their family in a specific location. These benchmarks have been applied in over 50 countries and are open source, ensuring transparency and universal accessibility. Additionally, these benchmarks are incorporated into the Fair Labor Association’s fair compensation and living wage toolkit, which we use across our Responsible Manufacturing work. This Wage Data Collection Tool aids in identifying gaps between living wages and existing wages in specific factories, enabling us to work more effectively to close those gaps. We will continue to consider other benchmarks in the future and are constantly evaluating the best methods to measure living wages. Read more about our responsible manufacturing initiatives on our Transparency page.
Tier 1 suppliers are footwear, apparel, and accessories manufacturers who make On’s products.
Tier 2 suppliers are manufacturers of materials and components used in On's products. We define Strategic Tier 2 partners as long-term business partners (lasting at least the next three seasons or more), which produce a large volume of our materials or are the sole producers of one of our business-critical materials.
Packaging
As of 2021, we use 100% FSC-certified cardboard for footwear and accessories packaging, as well as 100% recycled High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) for apparel packaging. In addition, 100% of the paper we use is FSC and recycled. In 2024, we introduced 100% Recycled LDPE polybags for our Bags collection. We're now focusing on reducing the amount of cutting waste generated during packaging production, and are busy exploring more sustainable solutions for apparel packaging.
Materials
Since we set our original material targets in 2020, we have more than tripled our net sales volumes as a company. The reality and scale of our company is now very different, resulting in the total volume of recycled content far exceeding our original goal. With a larger product range, new product requirements, new material innovations, and the wealth of knowledge we have gained over the years, we have revised our Preferred Materials strategy. Our innovation and design teams continue to develop and champion recycled and renewable materials across all of our products. We’ve updated our material goals to include both recycled and renewable materials in order to widen our scope and push the boundaries of the possibilities available to us. By not limiting ourselves to only working with recycled material, we can tackle two of our main focus areas: moving away from virgin fossil-based materials, and advancing fiber-to-fiber recycling as a way to progress circularity within our industry. And we’ve made great progress: In 2024, 80% of our cotton and cellulosics in apparel and accessories came from preferred sources. 84% of our polyester fibers came from recycled or renewable resources. And 92% of our polyamide fibers used in apparel, and accessories came from recycled or renewable sources. You can find out more about our materials and our progress so far in our Impact Progress Report.
When it comes to materials, we're constantly widening our scope and exploring new possibilities. We're committed to using more recycled and renewable materials in order to tackle two of our main focus areas: moving away from virgin fossil-based materials, and advancing fiber-to-fiber recycling as a way to progress circularity within our industry. We are also working to find scalable, innovative alternatives and to establish a hierarchy of preferred materials that use less water, less harmful chemicals, lower our carbon footprint, and are sourced responsibly. We class the following as preferred materials: - conventional recycled - advanced recycled - bio-based - bio-attributed - carbon emission-based polymers - preferred cotton - preferred cellulosics For the details and definitions of our preferred materials, you can head to our Transparency page.
Yes, as part of our strategy to lower our environmental impact, we're constantly increasing the amount of recycled materials we use. This year we revised our material goals to make them more robust and ambitious. By 2027, our products will have: >20% recycled or renewable materials by weight used in our midsole compound across our highest volume footwear styles (over 400k volume styles) >95% recycled or renewable polyamide fibers used in products manufactured in the year >95% recycled or renewable polyamide fibers used in products manufactured in the year By 2026: >95% cotton and cellulosics used in apparel products manufactured in the year, coming from preferred sources In 2024: 80% of our cotton and cellulosics in apparel and accessories came from preferred sources. 84% of our polyester fibers came from recycled or renewable resources. 92% of our polyamide fibers used in apparel and accessories came from recycled or renewable sources. We're currently on track to meet our 2027 targets.
In the case of recycled polyester fibers, these materials typically come from mechanically recycled PET (polyethylene terephthalate) beverage containers. This is what we currently rely on for conventionally recycled polyester materials. However, we prefer advanced recycled materials so as not to overlap with the plastic bottle industry, which is already circular, and instead tackle the textile industry. We are actively working to replace conventional recycled materials wherever possible through innovative technologies like chemical recycling.
Materials that come from advanced recycling technologies, such as chemically recycled fiber-to-fiber waste or landfill waste that is turned into new materials through upcycling, where the material maintains its integrity and quality. Our Cloudeasy model uses fiber-to-fiber recycled yarn, paving the way for more innovative uses of this material in future products.
Preferred cotton is cotton that comes from preferred sources and certification programs, including but not limited to recycled cotton, traceable Supima cotton, organic cotton, etc. We have aligned our definition of preferred cotton with Textile Exchange. Read more about our preferred materials in our Impact Progress Report.
Bio-based products are derived from plants and other renewable agricultural, marine, and forestry materials. They provide an alternative to conventional petroleum-derived products. Two examples of our use of bio-based materials are the Cloudneo and Cyclon-T which contain material derived from castor beans, a drought-tolerant crop not competing with forest land or other food crops.
Bio-attributed materials are those with attributed bio-based content, that can be determined via feedstock attribution using a mass balance approach.
Unlike traditional dyeing methods that paint fabrics after they're woven, dope dyeing injects color directly into the core of synthetic fibers. This seemingly small change has a ripple effect throughout the production process. By eliminating the need for separate dyeing baths, dope dyeing uses 90% less water than conventional dyeing processes, reducing the amount of wastewater filled with chemicals. This translates to a reduced environmental footprint for the textile industry as a whole. In addition to having a reduced footprint, dope dyeing elevates color performance. The dye becomes an intrinsic part of the fiber, leading to superior colorfastness. Fabrics retain their vibrancy for longer, even after repeated washing cycles, resulting in brighter and more consistent colors across production batches and a longer lifespan for garments. Read more about dope-dying, the products we have used it for, and our other preferred processes in our Impact Progress Report.
On uses selective textiles both natural and synthetic for our products. We are aware of the potential impact that certain textile fibres can have on the environment. We are following closely the initiatives and commitments set forth by the Microfabrics Consortium, EU legislation and international researchers. Currently, international testing standards and fibre threshold limits are still under development, nonetheless at On we will continue our commitment to innovating and creating circular products that avoid take, make, waste linear cycles.
We ensure that all our suppliers align with the restricted substance list (RSL) provided by the Apparel and Footwear International RSL Management Group (AFIRM). AFIRM's RSL is an industry-established tool that helps us ensure our products do not contain harmful substances. To learn more, you can visit AFIRM's website.
Our products are made without intentionally added PFAS, in compliance with NY and CA state laws.
Our goals
In 2023, we evolved our strategy and revaluated the standards we need to have the most impact across our teams. Over six months of internal and external stakeholder engagement we identified 24 clear and measurable goals that steer our sustainability efforts. These 24 goals are a mix of what we call 'core goals' that move the needle and have real-world impact, and 'enabling goals' that provide the scoping and capacity-building required to pave the way for future core goals. They include 12 foundational goals that set the groundwork needed to make possible the goals within the three pillars of our strategy. These foundational goals are shaped by what we call the Athlete Spirit: a constant pursuit of discipline, improvement, and feedback to better ourselves. With all of our goals, we are data-driven and ambitious, investing our time and resources into the areas and initiatives where we can have the most significant impact and progression, not only for our business but for the industry as a whole. You can discover more about these goals and our approach to having a positive impact in our Impact Progress Report.