- Now a running shoe does not just arrive
in a box, ready to go off the shelf in the running store.
In fact, there is a small army of people involved
in that production process from start to finish.
The key to that are the professional athletes themselves
who are training and racing in the shoes,
day in, day out.
Now, their specific feedback is fundamental
to the entire development and continual improvement
of those products that the companies are producing.
And that in turn is a direct trick down effect
on you guys, the customers, who are going to be buying them.
(upbeat electronic music)
So today we've been invited by Bart Aernouts,
second place finisher at Hawaii Ironman 2018
and our channel partners ON to get an insight
into the nuts and bolts of that shoe design process.
At Bart discusses his shoes with them,
here at their headquarters and testing facilities in Zurich.
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On is a fairly new running company,
only founded in 2010 right here in Switzerland
and perhaps you're not even that familiar
with what makes On a unique running shoe company.
Well, let me tell you, it is these,
it is their clouds which is their innovative technology
which sits in their soles of all of their shoes.
And I was quite interested to find out
exactly what it is that goes into the making of these
and how On brings these shoes and that technology
to the marketplace.
(upbeat electronic music)
So I'm here in the research and design facility
that On have in house here in Zurich
and, my word, this is quite an impressive space.
But this is where I'm gonna learn about the role
that somebody like Bart has in the whole design
of a shoe and talkin' about those shoes,
this is essentially where they are born.
The idea or concept or as the team refer to them,
a monster, and this is what I've got here in my hand.
It's a hand made shoe.
Essentially, an amalgamation of lots of different models
that can be stuck together and this is really
their starting point and that then moves on to this,
which is the technical designs which,
as you can see, are far more intricate in their nature
and loads of detail going on here.
And this here is what can then be sent on to
a further development team which are in Vietnam
and that team is then able to use these designs
to create a prototype.
So, moving on from the monster.
That prototype design can then get iterated
and moved forwards, bounced back here to the team in Zurich
and that loop is where the athletes
like Bart come into play.
'Cause they can offer their invaluable feedback
that allows that iteration process to move forwards.
That whole loop can take up to four or five runs
until everybody both here and in Vietnam
are happy with what they've designed with the shoe.
And at that point, usually about 18 months down the line
from this initial monster phase,
there's a shoe ready for production.
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So, today Bart has kindly allowed us to follow him
as On analyse his running in a variety of different shoes.
So they'll start in the lab and later move onto the track.
But by no means is Bart the only person
that On rely upon in order to perfect their shoes.
Now, although we've been following Bart
through his feedback process today here at On,
he's certainly not the only professional athlete
that they work with who they've gone
through similar idea feedback loops with.
The likes of Tim Don, we've had Nicola Spirig,
and Javier Gomez, too, have all contributed
to the development and tweaking of shoes
that are gonna be coming out in the future.
But that aside, it's not just the professional athletes
that a company like On use.
Indeed, they've got an entire testing pool
of over 100 test runners who they give shoes to,
crucially, in a size 44 which is my size
or a size 38 for the women, which they give out,
allow people to test, and you can see tests
with the little T on the back of these shoes here
and that just allows the company
to get a much broader spectrum
of data and information points back
so that they can go forward with improving their shoes.
(upbeat electronic music)
So after some testing, Bart's now back here.
We're at the headquarters of On
so he can have a sit down and feedback session
with Kevin and Dinah,
part of the research and development team here at On
so that he can give as good of feedback as possible
so they can work with that information
and improve the shoe as it goes forwards.
- Yeah, I mean, you ran with this shoe.
What do you think about the current Cloudflow,
take it for competition, what's your feeling with it
and your feedback on this shoe?
- So with the current Cloudflow, I'm using
the quite often in training.
I never raced with it because I really like the shoe
but somehow the fit in the shoe didn't feel
like 100% for me to race in it as well.
So I like a lot of the things about the shoe
but maybe not, it's not 100% fit for me for a race shoe.
- Yeah, I mean, we did the, the analysis on the treadmill.
We have it here on the laptop and Dinah can maybe
show you the result.
- Exactly, so we compared the different shoes
and had a look at, at both our versions,
the red one and the blue one.
And it kind of correlates with what you say.
So, your subjective feeling can be seen in the numbers
and in the data that we see here.
So the main parameters that we look at
would be running economy and elastic exchange.
So running economy is the amount of energy
that you use for a certain distance that you run.
And obviously we try to use less energy,
that means you can go faster and we can go longer.
And the elastic exchange is the value of energy
of force that you can save in your muscles
and in your tendons, so in your body,
and then exert onto the ground at push off.
So these two values are very important.
We wanna have a low economy value,
so low energy usage, but a high elastic exchange
so high value of return of energy.
And we did also see here the difference
between the two shoes and it just seems that
your body seems to work a lot better with the red shoe.
- Yeah. - So you seem
to feel more comfortable and this also results
in a change in your running style a little bit.
So, it's big enough change
that we can actually see difference
and we believe that you would be more comfortable
also running races in the red shoe.
- As well as getting feedback on his running economy,
Bart helps On by suggesting slight changes in their shoes.
On then collect this information
and use it for products further down the line.
So we've been inside on the treadmill in the lab,
Bart's had his biomechanics
and all sorts of data analysed there.
But On really want to have him here on the track
in a real time situation
so he can give them proper feedback.
And on that note, they've asked me to join him.
Wait up, Bart.
(upbeat electronic music)
We've been in the lab, now we're on the track
and you've collected a lot of data
with the guys here at On.
But even though it's all specific to you,
there's not gonna be a special shoe made for Bart is it?
- No, I think today first of all we tested different shoes
and analysed the data from these different shoes
and the data will be used to develop new shoes,
not just for me, but available to anyone.
So anyone can actually benefit from all the data
they collect so it's just to make better shoes
in the future or even better shoes than they have now
or see what they can change to, to make a better shoe
that everybody can just buy.
- Yeah, I mean, it's quite exciting, isn't it?
You're at the very top of Ironman racing
and you're obviously wanting a shoe
that is the best that can make you run a fast marathon.
But the shoe's still there for anybody else
who might be racing an Ironman or an event
on the same day as you in the age group ranks, right?
- Yeah, and I think that's, that's amazing about
the brand and I mean the could do
some special modifications probably
if you really need it but so far I never needed it
and I feel really good with the, with the shoes
and I think the data shows that there's also some,
I mean they have some interesting ideas for the future
and they will only get better, I think the shoes,
from what I saw today.
So it's exciting for everybody I think,
because everybody's gonna be able to buy them.
- [Host] Yeah it is, it's really interesting
to see what's gonna happen with these next shoes
that move forward, isn't it?
- And for me also today the testing
was my first lab testing for running
and it was interesting to see differences between the shoes
and so far my choice for shoes was always based
on how I felt with the shoes and how smooth
they felt for me running
and that's how I pick my racing shoes and training shoes.
And then it's interesting to see that the data shows
that, often the feeling is the right thing.
I mean, the data backs what I felt with the shoes.
And, but it might be interesting to test
some other shoes in the future for racing as well
based on what we saw today.
So, I might change my.
- Yeah, it'll be interesting to see whether,
come the next major championships,
you're in a different On shoe.
(upbeat electronic music)
So we're here at the track and I have just finished doing
a few laps with Bart as On kindly let me run
in a pair of the new shoes that he's helping them
with their feedback.
And they asked me what my feedback was
and if I'm honest, the Scottish in me
was just delight they gave me a pair
that matched the tartan of the track.
But in all seriousness, this day has actually been
a real fascinating insight for me.
I thought I knew a little bit about how a shoe got made
but quite frankly I didn't understand
quite how much detail went into the design of a shoe
from R&D at the very beginning
right through to nearly 18 months later,
hopefully hitting full production.
And also integrating the use of athletes like Bart
into that whole process to make sure
that that shoe is absolutely as best a model
as they can produce at the end result.
So hopefully you've enjoyed this video.
Please hit that thumb up like button,
and if you want to subscribe and get all the other videos
on our channel, find the globe on screen.
And for another video that we did with Bart
about his swimming, well you can find that here.