On & The Woolmark Performance Challenge, designing a sustainable tomorrow

The Woolmark Challenge, what's it all about?

The Woolmark Performance Challenge (WPC) is an annual celebration of innovation, sustainability and performance (obviously), organised by The Woolmark Company and On was honoured to be sponsoring the most recent edition. 

Over 1000 students from across the world joined this year’s challenge, with the mission of exploring new and innovative solutions to tomorrow’s problems, using durable and environmentally conscious materials, like merino wool, whilst keeping a “performance-first” approach, and the modern outdoor athlete in mind.

We met our winners and partners in March 2022 during the awards ceremony in Paris.

How did On partner with The Woolmark Company on this challenge?

We're learning, and growing (really fast). Our entire team and our community is committed to creating a better version of ourselves with each new step we take. It's our athlete spirit shining through. Along the way, we of course look into the future, and feel we have the privilege and duty to create something long lasting and impactful for a more sustainable future. We also see a need to bring future visionaries and creators along on the journey with us. The WPC is the perfect forum to showcase what we stand for, as the fastest growing sports brand in the industry, whilst exploring the challenges that our industry is facing from a materials and product development perspective, alongside students and future talents. Sustainability is a key focus for On, and the Woolmark Company has been a great partner.

Why did this competition resonate so strongly with On?

Our Spirits are our guiding principles, they are what bring us all together at On. This competition really brought our spirits to life and throughout the course of the competition we saw in particular our Explorer Spirit and our Survivor Spirit demonstrated by every contestant. It was incredible learning how they used traditional materials in a whole new way whilst focusing on the product functionality, durability and the overall design aesthetic that we always strive for. A core component of the competition is the integration of sustainably sourced merino wool into the proposals, which gave the entire process an additional sustainable edge by using traditional materials in unconventional ways. for instance on outdoor performance apparel and base/mid-layers.

Two visionaries, two winning ideas

On this occasion we decided not to have one single winner, but instead two. Caroline Schinle was awarded an internship with us after presenting her project - Milkweed Sustainable Filling.

A new research opportunity award was also presented to Harleen Kaur, who's innovative ideas pushed beyond the known - Running For Two: Maternity

“While both ideas were very different to each other, each of the two contestants let shine through their potential to challenge the status quo and be a true explorer, which is one of the key spirits we encourage here at On. We felt we wanted to develop that talent and nurture the thinking around helping the next generation of innovators by providing a platform and the tools to explore.” - Louis de Vos, Head of Talent Acquisition, R&D at On. "We were amazed by the sheer volume, diversity and quality of the entries coming from all around the world. Knowing, there are bright minds in so many institutions globally, gave us confidence that the pursuit of developing more innovative, but even more importantly, sustainable solutions is what the future generation is looking for and it was refreshing to see the ideas that were coming our way."

We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in the competition, the exchanges and connections that have been created throughout the challenge are priceless. We hope that we all keep on challenging and inspiring each other to become better versions of ourselves.