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In the heart of western Zurich, a splendid Art Nouveau building houses On Labs, an innovation campus with space for 1,000 of the 3,000 employees already employed by this rapidly expanding Swiss company. "They told me I was crazy, and I can understand that," jokes Oliver Bernhard from a hotel in St. Moritz. In this magical Alpine village where he fell in love with sport as a child, the two-time duathlon world champion looks on with "pride" at his high-performance track and field team, the OAC, which, of course, trains and competes in his inimitable running shoes.
These are the same shoes that dominate the fashion market , sharing the label with Loewe, or that "my 84-year-old mother wears to the supermarket," says Bernhard. The On, with their clouds on the soles, are no longer strange to anyone and are a profitable product. Even if the whole thing was born 14 years ago, in fact, from a "crazy idea".
"In life it usually happens that things happen when you have a problem or a need. In my case it was pure frustration as an athlete. You get older, you get wiser in...