Eco Issues
Completing The Circle On Running co-founder Caspar Coppetti discusses the importance of the brand’s Cyclon shoe and its subscription service.
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unning Insight recently caught up with On Running co-founder Caspar Coppetti to discuss the brand’s environmentally inspired Cyclon technology and the unique subscription concept that recycles shoes for reuse. Running Insight : Please describe the Cyclon technology in terms an editor can understand. Coppetti: The Cyclon shoe is a product of three years of research in the On Lab and a breakthrough discovery of fusing two high-performance polyamides to fulfill the demands of a running shoe without compromising performance. The best part is that these two materials can be recycled together. How does that work? The upper is engineered from PA11, a bio-based polyamide derived from castor beans. The castor beans undergo a heating process to extract castor oil, which is then transformed into the Amino 11 molecule. We arrive at PA11 through a heat and pressure process. We’ve used PA11 in our shoes for quite some time, but it wasn’t until Cyclon that we discovered how to construct an entire shoe from this bio-based material. PA11 is durable and tough yet flexible and lightweight, making it the perfect material for a high-performance running shoe. And the rest of the technical story? The sole of the Cyclon shoe is made from Polyamide 12, or Pebax. Pebax is a popular material in the sportswear industry and also happens to be 100 percent recyclable. Due to the incredible quality of these two materials, used product can be ground, melted and transformed into shoes of the same
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