On is on a roll and ready to conquer Italy’s fast-growing fan base with the opening of its first flagship store in Milan.

The Swiss running brand, which is gaining momentum and popularity within and outside the running community, is inaugurating its new megastore on Milan’s central thoroughfare Corso Vittorio Emanuele II on Friday, heating up competition in the sportswear sector on the street that already features flagship stores of brands such as Nike and Adidas.

Although Italy has always been an important market for the brand with its extensive network of specialty retailers, On is determined to expand its direct sales presence to improve the customer experience, explained Bianca Pestalozzi, On’s General Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

“We have seen good growth in awareness of the On brand, perhaps more in Milan than in cities like Rome, but we are definitely seeing a lot of growth and brand momentum in the market,” she said.

The Milan store will open a month after the opening of the second Paris flagship store on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. According to Pestalozzi, both cities and countries have great potential. “We have definitely invested in connecting with (local) communities, with the running community, and we plan to continue doing so in the coming years,” she explained.

“I think Italy is a little bit unique… in the northern parts of Italy, the brand resonates with a younger audience, but probably from an ‘all-day performance’ and lifestyle appeal perspective. And we definitely want to embed the brand in the running and performance communities… that’s a big focus for us in the Italian market,” she explained.

“At the same time, Milan is an important travel destination – and, alongside Paris, perhaps the hotspot from a fashion, luxury and lifestyle perspective in Europe,” she continued.

After reclaiming the top spot on Lyst’s list of hottest products for Q2 2024 with the On x Loewe Cloudtilt 2.0 sneakers, the company is now increasingly capitalizing on its growing appeal to fashion-conscious consumers.

“With the opening of the flagship store on Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and by building a stronger presence through digital channels, we plan to offer our fans – both locals and tourists travelling to the city – a truly premium and upscale experience,” explained Pestalozzi.

“We definitely want to continue to increase the brand’s desirability in this space where performance meets fashion and culture,” she noted.

The 486-square-meter unit was redesigned by Milan-based architectural firm BBPR to maintain the unit’s historic floor plan, which is characterized by strong indoor-outdoor interaction with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the street’s arcaded walkway. The space previously housed the Gap store.

“We definitely view our retail stores, and especially the flagship stores, as an experience where we want to experience the best of the brand,” Pestalozzi said, acknowledging the need to create customized experiences for the community in specific locations to encourage the “desire for uniqueness in the retail business,” she said.

The Milan flagship store will offer sneaker and apparel collections for men and women, as well as limited releases and collaborations. The in-store shopping experience is set to be further enhanced by the On membership app, launching in 2023, which will provide access to benefits, early product releases and more.

Running gear, sneakers and new arrivals are showcased on the ground floor, while other sports and activities, including tennis, and the lifestyle selection take up the lower floor.

In line with the company’s ambitions to build a community, there is a central square (‘piazza’ in Italian) on the lower level dedicated to community meetings, conversations and activities designed to attract fans of the brand and customers to the store through non-transactional activities.

Building on On’s retail experience elsewhere, including in its two Paris stores on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and at the Marché Saint-Germain, the company has optimized the customer experience, for example by presenting total looks that also include clothing – a category that has been growing strongly since last year, Pestalozzi explained.

Although social media-driven, short-cycle trends tend to flatten customer desires and behavior, Pestalozzi believes that “there are a lot of local nuances in terms of people’s influence and cultural aspects in different markets. In Italy, they may have a better eye for design and color palettes and I would say the creative direction of the product,” she said.

In the second quarter of 2024, On’s revenues in the EMEA region increased by 21.8 percent to 138.4 million Swiss francs. Total revenues increased by 27.8 percent to 567.7 million Swiss francs in the quarter compared to the same period last year.

“Europe is in some ways the most mature region because the markets in which we operate are those where the brand started, where we began our expansion journey and where we had the very first fans when the brand launched in 2010,” explained Pestalozzi.

In addition to Germany, where brand awareness and penetration have continued to increase since the brand was founded,, The UK has become a key market in the region and is home to two of the company’s six retail outlets in the EMEA region. Austria and Switzerland are also at advanced stages of development, albeit to a lesser extent.

Central Europe is in a phase of transformation, says Pestalozzi. The focus is on “shifting sales and ensuring that the brand is positioned in the performance area as well as in the relevant lifestyle and sneaker channels.”

Rather, the Milan opening, which follows the opening of the retail store in Paris, indicates that On is refocusing on southern Europe, including Spain, Italy and France, the CEO explained. “I would say they are kind of the next chapter of On’s expansion in Europe, because we are still growing from a lower base in these markets,” she said, mentioning activities such as the Barcelona Marathon, which On sponsored this year.

There is also good momentum in the Middle East, said the manager, where plans are to build a more significant presence across multiple channels in the coming years.

Last quarter, direct-to-consumer sales accounted for 37.5 percent of On’s total business, with wholesale accounting for just under two-thirds of the business.

Pestalozzi said On has no plans to streamline its wholesale presence in the EMEA region, but will instead “focus on the right partners to help us reach the communities we want to target.”

“I think On’s strategy has always been to basically go direct to market and reach consumers through our own channels, but at the same time, on the wholesale side, we partnered with these different community champions to build credibility with those consumers,” she said.