Federer’s Partnership With On Running Is A Stroke Of Genius

On Monday, tennis icon and Glamour’s “Sexiest Tennis Player Alive”, Roger Federer, revealed his latest venture with Swiss brand On Running. The afternoon of live streams saw the launch of his first shoe, a tennis-inspired lifestyle sneaker named ‘The Roger Centre Court 0-Series’.

The partnership is a match made in heaven with both Federer and On Running being synonymous with high-performance and elegance or sophistication. It also paves the way for what one might expect from one of the fastest growing running brands in the industry.

On Running were founded just 10 years ago by former pro athlete Olivier Bernhard and his friends David Allemann and Caspar Coppetti. They had one bold ambition: to change the world of running. High performance was priority with iteration after iteration of their prototypes, finally resulting in an award winning concept in which test runners spoke of running on clouds. Then, in July 2010, the first running stores had On shoes on their shelves.

But this story isn’t overly unique. Looking at brands such as Asics, Nike and Saucony, you’ll find that they are all steeped in performance. The natural step for these brands has been to hone their performance products and then branch out into lifestyle, which is just what On Running are beginning to do, all with the support of one of sports most iconic personalities both on the court and off.

Roger Federer is no stranger to the world of fashion, having been the face of Nike for 2 decades before signing a 10 year deal with Japanese brand Uniqlo worth an eye-watering $300,000,000. When asked about the deal Federer said;

“The tour doesn’t always go through Asia, I’ve been a big promoter of Shanghai, same as Tokyo, I’ve wanted to go back there many times, and through this deal, I will. I’m very excited to spend more time in China, Japan and other places, so I think that’s very exciting, and maybe I can also find more tennis superstars of the future because they just don’t have enough unfortunately”

Cynics will say Federer is just cashing in while he can still navigate a tennis court, but he perhaps can’t be blamed for having his fingers in many pies as he nears retirement. With On Running he can help shape their future, offering his eye for fashion, his entrepreneurial brain and together create a Swiss powerhouse in the athletics and lifestyle industry.

Game, set and match made in heaven. (Sorry!)