When the world shutdown and working from home became the norm — so did working out. We have a no shoes rule in our home and constantly standing on hardwood was killing my feet. Initially, I wore Nikes indoors to help with the support until my friend introduced me to On, a performance running shoe and apparel brand born in the Swiss alps over a decade ago.

Once you see On shoes, you cannot unsee them. And once you wear them, you cannot forget how they feel. On is based on the radical idea that while running, soft landings should be followed by explosive take-offs, or what they call running on clouds.

“I knew On as the shoes with the holes in them,” said James Thompson, Global Head of Materials at On.

On was founded by former professional athlete Olivier Bernhard and his friends David Allemann and Caspar Coppetti.

“We’re not necessarily trying to compete with anyone. Olivier was a world class athlete who saw a problem and he tried to fix it. That’s an attitude we have about all of our products. We’re less concerned about what Nike is releasing and more concerned about solving a problem that hasn’t been fixed,” James explained during our interview.

Make no mistake, On makes a high performance shoe founded by a multiple Ironman winner (in Olivier) and invested by arguably the greatest tennis champion of all-time, in Roger Federer. Federer’s title is co-entrepreneur and his unique experience lends itself to product development.

In addition to the Nikes I’ve also worn multiple Allbirds and Brooks. On’s Cloudswift model struck the balance of support and performance without suffocating my feet. In addition to wearing them in-doors on hardwood I also use them for high intensity workouts in the garage and short distance runs on pavement.

I was explaining to James how I’ve also worn them to run errands with these unique running pants that look like layered material.

“They’re literally called The Running Pants. There’s no frills, its the ultimate running pants. You’ll notice the different paneling and mesh inserts for breathability. We’ve inserted panels to have different material compositions where you need it. That’s a real pinnacle piece for us we’ll build on and everything we do with the apparel is in collaboration with our sports science team who focuses on biometric data and athlete feedback to help inform how we should engineer our products,” he explained.

After earning is education at the London College of Fashion, James obtained an internship in New York at what he coined the king fabrics, Marc Jacobs. Since he couldn’t afford to make the move, he wrote a handwritten letter to his grandmother telling her about the opportunity which proved to be a great lesson.

“The internship allowed me to observe how design and production teams work. It wasn’t that I necessarily learned how to sew there, I was able to learn how a business really works and it was invaluable. Imagine if I didn’t apply for the internship because I didn’t have the money? The best advice I can give is that you can find money anywhere. Have a vision for yourself and don’t say no.”

James went on to work at brands like Hunter and Puma. Most recently, he parlayed his experience at Jaguar Land Rover. His friends thought he was crazy because he didn’t have automotive experience.

“A car is just a shoe with four wheels,” he explained.

Learning about James’ experience and his excitement for the future of On was truly inspiring — as was the work they’ve done with world-class athletes like Tim Don (documentary below). While I won’t be entering an Ironman anytime soon, the Cloudswift’s have been one of the most comfortable shoes I’ve worn and I’m thrilled I can wear them all day. As the future of work and life continue to blur — this is one tool I can include in my “work from home” essentials.