Next-Gen Athletics

While most running shoe companies innovate from the bottom (think: soles with superfoams and carbon plates), Swiss sportswear brand On took a top-down approach with the laceless Cloudboom Strike LightSpray, which made its debut on a handful of athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Kenyan runner Hellen Obiri also won the Boston Marathon in a prototype version this year.) To craft the sock-like design, an automated robotic arm sprays 1.5 kilometers of an elastic thermoplastic material around a foot-shaped form. “It’s not a weave, it’s not a knit, it’s something new,” says Nils Arne Altrogge, On’s director of innovation technology and research. That fully-formed upper is then welded to a performance midsole, eliminating hundreds of manufacturing steps (and the need to tie your shoes).

Buy Now: Cloudboom Strike LS on ON