Swiss Running-Shoe Brand on Launches Resale Site in Sustainability Push

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This is part of a larger trend of customers turning to secondhand items and marketplaces. Compared to two years ago, US consumers of all ages have reported buying second-hand at least 33% more often, according to a December 2021 report by First Insight, Inc. and the Baker Retailing Center at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

The Swiss athletic brand On is launching a resale site Thursday, making it the latest company to enter the fast-growing apparel resale market. 

On Holding AG, which is backed by tennis star Roger Federer, went public last year and expects to see net sales of 1.1 billion Swiss francs ($1.1 billion) in 2022. The company has made sustainability a focus of its business. It set science-based climate targets, per its 2021 environmental impact report, aiming to cut emissions it directly generates 46% by 2030 and to reduce indirect emissions arising from the company’s supply chain and product use. On also strives to be fully circular, meaning it would someday only use recycled materials to make its products and would generate little waste in their manufacture, distribution and use. 

“It will obviously take us years to be fully circular,” said Samuel Wenger, On’s global direct-to-consumer head. The new resale site, Onward, “is a perfect in-between step,” Wenger said.  

READ THE FULL ARTICLEat Bloomberg.

shoes  sustainability  resale  recommerce