Next-Gen Athletics

While many 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 won the Boston Marathon this year in a prototype version.) To craft the socklike design, an automated robotic arm sprays 1.5 km of an elastic thermoplastic material onto a performance midsole. “It’s not a weave, it’s not a knit, it’s something new,” says Nils Altrogge, On’s director of innovation technology and research. That three-minute process eliminates hundreds of manufacturing steps (and the need to tie your shoes).

Buy Now: Cloudboom Strike LS on ON