The Swiss performance brand is winding down a three-year subscription model and replacing it with a program designed to cover every product it sells – not just a single collection. The move signals whether circular services can scale beyond niche at brand level.
On has launched Cyclon Resale, a trade-in and refurbishment program that allows customers to return used gear for store credit and shop pre-owned On products at a reduced price. The program went live on March 17 in Switzerland, the UK and the US, with expansion to additional markets planned.
On the same date, existing Cyclon subscribers were notified that they would no longer be charged. Unlike the original subscription terms – which required customers to return shoes to avoid further fees – subscribers may now keep their current pair. To encourage returns when the shoes eventually wear out, On is offering a $5/£5/CHF 5 recycling credit as an incentive.
Under the new model, returned items are assessed and routed according to condition. Products in good shape are refurbished for resale, with customers receiving up to $30/£30/CHF 30 in credit – the amount depending on the item’s resale value. Products below resale standard but accepted for recycling carry a flat $5/£5/CHF 5 “thank you” credit. Items that can be redirected to partner donation organizations go that route before recycling is considered.
By sequencing resale, donation and recycling in priority order, the brand aims to extend the usable life of its products while limiting what reaches landfill. On said it will use data gathered from returned items and its recycler partners to inform future decisions on material selection and recyclability in product design.
From a single collection to the entire catalog
The launch marks a formal departure from the subscription model that underpinned the original Cyclon initiative since its 2022 launch. That service allowed customers to subscribe to a dedicated sportswear line engineered for recycling; On has acknowledged the insights the model generated but concluded it did not offer a path to commercial scale. The subscription service will now be wound down.
Starting in June 2026, the full Cyclon collection – previously available only through the subscription – will move to conventional retail. On confirmed it will continue accepting returns from Cyclon products for recycling and plans to use recovered material in new shoe components or other industry applications.
The new Cloudrise Cyclon 1.1, released alongside the program, illustrates what that recovery loop can produce in practice: its Speedboard – the brand’s signature plate component – is manufactured using material recycled from shoes returned during the original subscription pilot, making it the clearest demonstration to date of closed-loop production within the Cyclon program.
Materials and manufacturing backing the shift
Cyclon Resale arrives alongside other steps On is taking to reduce waste earlier in the production process. The Cloud 6 and Cloudnova now incorporate bio-attributed foam and recycled material in the upper. The brand is also scaling its LightSpray process – a manufacturing technique in which material is sprayed in a single step to form shoe uppers – which the company says substantially reduces waste compared with traditional piece-by-piece assembly methods.
“Circularity at On is not just about trade-ins, resale, donation or recycling – it’s about relentlessly innovating circular materials, extending product lifespans, and minimizing waste at every stage,” said Begum Kurkcu, Senior Director of Sustainability at On.
Kurkcu added that insights from returned products and regional recyclers would be fed directly into engineering decisions on future materials.
The campaign film: craft as a circularity message
To support the launch, On released a short film directed by Ariel Fisher, featuring movement artists Matt McCready and Chloe Matthews. The piece was created with no CGI, no wire effects and no AI-generated imagery. The creative decision is worth noting in context: a brand building a circularity program around the claim that nothing should go to waste chose to make its campaign film without the shortcuts that currently define much of the industry’s content production.
Whether this reads as a coherent creative statement or a relatively minor production footnote will depend on how much On chooses to amplify it. For now, the tagline – “nothing was made to stand still” – carries the double meaning the programme is reaching for.
