Sitting in their headquarters of Zurich, the CO-PDG, Martin Hoffmann, and his colleague and on the co-founder Caspar Coppetti, have reasons to be relaxed. Another unexpected quarter of growth marked an additional $ 3 billion at the value of their brand.
However, there is an elephant in the room. This does not take up much space, since the elephant is a newly empty seat at the CEO table.
Hoffmann will soon assume the role of the CEO of ON only when his co-PDG Mark Maurer will leave the company in June. Maurer said he was planning to embark on a “new chapter” of his professional life after more than 14 years in the company.
Maurer and Hoffmann both joined the Swiss catering retailer Valora in 2012 and 2013, respectively, as COO and CFO, Maurer courting his friend to what was a little -known race startup. The pair has been operating as co-PDG since 2021.
From July, however, Hoffmann, a financial expert by commerce and by nature, will take the reins of Only, without Maure leaning.
“I had a very strong relationship with Mark and a deep and deep friendship,” said Hoffmann Fortune After the publication of ON’s first quarter income.
“I will miss this, but we were very close, mainly in all parts of the company, as well as different objectives. But there is no dead angle, and we do not change a strategy. ”
Hoffmann, whose priority will pass from his current double role as a financial director, admits that he likes figures as much as people. For a company better known for design, innovation and nice collaborations with Gen Z idols, finance will have to take a rear seat.
“The strength of on is not the figures, it’s the team,” said Hoffmann.
“My goal was to allow this team to be their best. And I don’t think it changes. The goal of where I do it will change, but the prospect remains the same.”
Hoffmann could barely take the sole responsibility for a better position.
On Tuesday, the group announced a 43% increase in revenues in the first quarter of 2025 compared to a year earlier, while it increased its indications on income and profitability for the rest of the year.
The last quarter marked the second consequence that beat its income expectations.
New brand partnerships, including February Super Bowl advertisement with tennis Great and on Investor, Roger Federer and Elmo, helped the company challenge short -term expectations with a wider goal of double sales between 2023 and 2026.
By finishing his week of results by achieving a record assessment of $ 19.65 billion while investors piled up in the race brand following surprise results, which started the week worth around 16 billion dollars. We are now the third most precious shoe brand in the world behind Nike and Adidas.
The push of the group occurred while these inherited sports clothing companies regressed. Nike shares have plunged more than 15% since the start of the year, while Adidas shares have dropped by more than 8%. Meanwhile, has increased in value by 8% this year. With a current market share of shoes of around 10%, company leadership is laser focused in even higher driving.
“Our long -term vision is to be the number one brand in progress,” said Coppetti Fortune.
Marketing of the
Going to the mantle of the number of racing number one seems to be much more realistic than when its co-founders began to experiment with pipe pipes at the bottom of traditional running shoes. It is however a different path from the one that caused this point.
On the evolution of the Challenger brand, largely thanks to word of mouth marketing and an opportunistic boom in the management of young people, including disposable income, awareness of social media and new focus on fitness have proven a gold mine for the athletic brand.
“I think we benefit from this health and well-being trend where young adults … They go to the gymnasium rather than go to the bar,” said Coppetti. The group’s successful partnership with Zendaya did not harm its attraction with young customers either.
“We are quite obsessed,” said COPPETTI about the continuation of the brand’s brand recognition.
The company was medico-legal in the transition of an online model to erect physical stores, considering exactly where to place each of its 53 stores, to the corner of the street, to maintain its exclusivity during growth.
“We do not want to exceed, and this allows us, for example, to be very selective with the retail partners with which we want to work, or in the stores in which we want to be, in which street, in the corner of this street on which we want to have our store and everything fuels this premium positioning”, explains Coppetti.
The two stores in London on the illustrate this strategy, with one located on the exclusive street of Regent, and the other in the fashionable shopping area of Spitalfields. Coppetti notes that 200 people participate in a racing club from this store regularly. You can be quite confident that a representative will also make an appearance on the cover in other racing clubs.
“We are going out in fact and we are going on the main racing routes in big cities, and we will count people, and we see what products they wear, both shoes and clothes,” said Coppetti.
The company does the same during racing events. We gorie words cut among short distance runners, up to half-marathon distances. He hopes to grasp more marathon runners when he launches his “super shoes” later this year.
There will be other challenges along the way. Always an emerging brand, we have not yet proven that it can come out of demand dips and go beyond fears that it is a “fashionable” shoe. And despite operations in the United States, the Swiss brand is no less exposed to prices than its competitors. However, planning price increases this year, unrelated to the prices, and CEO Hoffmann customers are ready to stay on a ride, but bumpy things get.
“We want to be the most premium global sports brand, and the premium is the decisive word here,” explains Hoffmann. “And if you are clear on the northern star, we have a clear direction in types of uncertainties like this.”
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
