{"id":301251,"date":"2026-02-25T09:47:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/301251\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:47:07","slug":"on-running-is-finally-ramping-up-production-of-its-hyper-foam-spray-on-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/301251\/","title":{"rendered":"On Running Is Finally Ramping Up Production of Its \u2018Hyper-Foam\u2019 Spray-On Shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swiss shoe company On\u2014one of the fastest-growing footwear brands\u2014has done very well for itself, growing into a $3 billion company<\/a> on the giant puffy soles of its very garish shoes. Today, the company announced three new kicks and the opening of a new production plant in South Korea that will make many, many more\u2014at least, that\u2019s the goal.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the company is focusing on the production of its newest, weirdest shoe\u2014a giant soled laceless running shoe with a single-piece toe box made of \u201chyper-foam\u201d plastics sprayed on by robot arms. The plastics are 40 percent biofoam, and the shoe is made of just eight pieces; On says its minimalist approach saves on the shoe’s carbon footprint.<\/p>\n

The LightSpray Cloudmonster 3 Hyper is a switch-up from On\u2019s first shoe that uses its sprayed-on toe box technique, the Cloudboom Strike LS<\/a>. Along with adding the LightSpray branding to the thing, the primary difference is the switch to the Cloudmonster model, which, in On shoe lore, tends to provide more cushy soles. This new version has 20 percent more foam, for all those runners who like a squishy bounce. They\u2019ll have a limited release on the company\u2019s website and retail stores in North America starting March 5, with a global expansion on April 16.<\/p>\n

The new LightSpray shoes weigh 205 grams apiece (less than half a pound), which puts them a little heavier than the 170-gram Cloudboom Strikes. They\u2019re also cheaper at $280 versus the Cloudboom\u2019s heftier $330 price.<\/p>\n

While WIRED liked the first iteration<\/a> of the LightSpray shoe, nobody else, except for a few hand-picked marathon runners, had a chance to use it. Production runs were very limited, and the shoes were prohibitively expensive. Now, On has beefed up production in South Korea, enabling it to expand its overall production of LightSpray shoes 30-fold in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn’s strategy to expand the LightSpray technology from racing to running shoes is to make it available to a broader audience beyond elite athletes,\u201d an On representative tells WIRED via email.<\/p>\n

Whether laceless, slip-on shoes are going to find their gait in the shoe market isn’t a winning idea yet. While brands like Nike offer slip-ons, the laceless fixation tends to be reserved for one-off shoes like the Back to the Future II-inspired Adapt BB<\/a> self-lacing shoes. Some serious runners prefer the pursuit of a more natural run offered by slim-soled shoes like barefoot shoes<\/a>, but On is still doubling down on its doubly big cushions. People seem to like them, as On is also announcing two other Cloudmonster shoes. One is the laced-up Cloudmonster 3, and the other is a regular ol\u2019 Cloudmonster 3 Hyper with laces and a non-LightSprayed toe box. (Ugh, laces. How pass\u00e9.)<\/p>\n

On says it has the further strategic goal of scaling up its global production of the LightSpray shoes, \u201cwithin the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Swiss shoe company On\u2014one of the fastest-growing footwear brands\u2014has done very well for itself, growing into a $3…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[97596,111,139,69,11324,8808,165359,62328,213,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-301251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-apparel","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-outdoors","13":"tag-running","14":"tag-running-shoes","15":"tag-shoes","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}