Switzerland: Margins of Federer’s On Brand Sneaker Are Controversial

Has Roger Federer’s image suffered in Switzerland? Profits from sports shoe brand On Running, marketed as tennis champion’s sneakers, have caused a stir in Switzerland after a consumer magazine discovered a difference between the purchase price in Vietnam and the selling price in Switzerland.

Swiss magazine Ktipp published a study last week that analyzed the customs records of around thirty models to compare them with sales prices on the brand’s website in Switzerland.

For a model called “Roger Advantage”, for example, the Swiss brand pays 17.86 Swiss francs (18.89 euros) from manufacturers in Vietnam. On its website in Switzerland, this model is then sold for 190 francs (about 200 euros), “or more than ten times its factory price,” emphasizes the magazine, which notes that the profits of this Swiss brand are even higher than those of competitors such as like Adidas or Puma.

Feeling of “running on clouds”

The brand was created in 2010 by Swiss duathlon champion Olivier Bernhard, who, together with an engineer from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, developed a system that absorbs shock during a race. The company, which had a turnover of CHF 1.2 billion in 2022, produces these high-performance sports shoes with soles that, according to the brand’s slogan, are meant to give the impression of “running on the clouds.”

The founders of this Zurich company then contacted Roger Federer after seeing him with one of their models on his foot and offered to invest in the company. This Swiss brand, very popular among athletes, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021.

Unrest in Switzerland

The Swiss magazine’s investigation has sparked numerous reactions in the country of the tennis champion who holds the record for most Wimbledon wins. “Sustainable management is about sharing the fruits of value creation fairly,” responded Oliver Cassen, a spokesman for the NGO Public Eye.

“If the trading profits of a branded company are much higher than those of shoe factories,” he added, “then the balance is not very good,” added a spokesman for the non-governmental organization, which regularly publishes reports on working conditions in the fashion and fashion industries. clothing industry.

The brand “does not disclose or comment on commercial or confidential information,” she said in an email to AFP, although she confirmed that “the figures published in the media last week contain inaccurate information.”