It has been a busy week for On, the fast-growing Swiss sportswear brand best-known for its distinctive honeycomb-soled sneakers that promise the feeling of ’running on clouds’. This past Monday (29 April 2024), it revealed that FKA Twigs was joining On as a ‘creative partner’, largely working with the brand on training apparel (‘the way we move our bodies is one of the most integral parts of the human experience’, said the musician and dancer). Meanwhile in Spain, tennis player Iga Swiatek – the current world number one – will compete wearing On apparel and sneakers in the final of the Madrid Open, taking place on Saturday afternoon (4 May 2024).
Also launching this week is the brand’s second collaboration with cult Korean fashion label Post Archive Faction (PAF). The project is defined by On as fusing its expertise in ‘performance and function’ with PAF’s imaginative design codes. Launched by Dongjoon Lim and Sookyo Jeon in 2018, PAF is characterised by a disruptive, experimental approach with hallmarks including offbeat pattern-cutting and panelling, achieved through the endless deconstruction and reassembling of sportswear garments. Meanwhile, armour-like hoods and techy outerwear look primed for traversing apocalyptic landscapes.
Flow state: On x Post Archive Faction
The new collection – which spans both apparel and a version of On’s bouncy Cloudmonster 2 running sneaker – draws inspiration from the River Limmat in Zurich, which flows close to On’s high-tech offices in the city’s industrial district (indeed, the running club that operates from the On Labs store below the offices regularly begin by snaking along the river’s bankside paths). In PAF’s typically conceptual style, the collaboration centres on the word ‘current’, which it defines as ’a body of water or air moving in a definite direction... belonging to the present time’, and reflects the idea of an athlete entering the so-called ’flow state’.
As such, pieces are defined by a feeling of fluidity and movement: the X Breaker Jacket, for example, has mesh placements allowing for airflow, while the Flow Running pants are made from super-lightweight technical fabric, constructed with PAF’s distinctive approach to pattern-cutting and seam placement. The pieces were initially conceived as recovery wear for the OAC (On Athletics Club), a group of elite athletes who train in Boulder, Colorada under Dathan Ritzenhein. Including American mile record-holder Yared Nuguse, indoor 1500m world champion George Beamish and Commonwealth 1500m champion Ollie Hoare, as well as New York and Boston Marathon winner Helen Obiri, the group will chase Olympic success this summer.
The collection is rounded out with short and long-sleeved T-shirts and shorts in muted shades of yellow, grey and black, as well as reimagined versions of the Cloudmonster 2 sneaker in ’Moondust’ and monochrome black.
On x Post Archive Faction is available now at On’s website and selected stores worldwide.
