On-Running, the Swiss performance running shoes and clothing brand, has announced the launch of their Cyclon Running Shoe that will be available for customers in Fall 2021.
Made to perform for the expert runner, with feather-lite foam soles and less virgin material, the shoes are 100% recyclable and are said to produce less waste.
“Each pair of shoes has $4 or $5 worth of raw materials that are still usable in it,” said Caspar Coppetti, On co-founder, in a statement the is both promoting transparency and relevancy of how the brand presents itself to the world.
“That’s money we typically aren’t recapturing. Recycling shoes can be hard since not every piece can be recycled together, so we designed it from the beginning to be as few pieces as possible and all of the same material. So, our recycling costs will be low.”
That’s some forward=-thinking stuff.
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What’s really unique about On’s new Cyclon Running Shoe is the subscription offer that’s already got customers hyped up and talking.
Customers will never really own the shoes as the brand is launching them with a creative twist – they will only be available for customers via subscription service.
“We’ve created a clever sustainable system that only works when we get the materials back. In short, you run in them, return them, get new shoes, and we recycle your old pair to make more Cyclon products. And the cycle continues,” as written on their site.
This is a brilliant way to also tap into the subscription model more, and more customers seem to be wanting all across the spectrum of products and services.
Regardless of the new subscription model, the shoe itself is targeted at a niche audience, catering to long-distance and marathon runners.
Some customers are already comparing them to the Adidas Run Falcons that have the integration of a dynamic carbon plate.
See comment from a Facebook user to the following post on the launch:
“Fair play on, like the idea, but these shoes look very basic. I read the full article and can see there is still more development to do, to me they just look like Adidas run falcons… and at £300 a year, I can buy more than one pair of very, very good runners.”
Well, it’s hard to launch such an elaborate initiative and manage to perfectly check all the boxes. But this could well become something we see more companies in similar niches try.
According to Glossy, subscriptions are becoming a more attractive option for fashion brands, too, due to the decline of physical retail and the fact that they provide a steady revenue stream for the brand, of course.
Fabletics, an American online subscription retailer that sells women’s sportswear, is also vying for the subscription membership model.
“The pandemic has caused us to pivot and rely on our membership customers a lot more,” said Ron Harries, svp and head of retail at Fabletics.
“Those are a lot more reliable right now, when we need them, and we’ve been growing. We have more than 2 million members now, [where the brand had 1.5 million members as of the beginning of 2020].”
In other words – that’s the power of nailing your relationship marketing with smart and holistic CRM strategies.