Swiss sportswear brand On Running opened a 32-robot shoe factory in Busan on Wednesday to accelerate production and reduce tariff and supply chain risks as it expands automated manufacturing closer to key markets.

According to the company, the facility in South Korea can produce about 1,000 pairs of running shoes a day using On’s LightSpray technology, which employs robotic arms to spray material onto a mould to create a sock-like upper. The method condenses what the company describes as a traditional 200-step upper manufacturing process across multiple factories into a single automated system.

Caspar Coppetti, co-founder of On, told Reuters that automation allows the brand to manufacture faster and with lower environmental impact while moving production nearer to consumers. “The speed to market and the sustainability of it and also the fact that basically we’re running out of places with cheap labour are all speaking for automation and going closer to where consumers are,” he said.

The Busan plant marks a significant scale-up from On’s first LightSpray facility in Zurich, which began production in July last year with four robots. In a company statement, Coppetti said the new site would increase global LightSpray capacity 30-fold in 2026, calling it “a monumental milestone for us in mastering this advanced manufacturing process”.

On, founded in Switzerland in 2010, currently sources 90 per cent of its shoes from third-party manufacturers in Vietnam and 10 per cent from Indonesia, according to its latest annual report. The company said it plans to open further robot factories in the United States and Europe as part of a nearshoring strategy designed to reduce exposure to tariffs and logistical disruption.

Steep US tariffs on manufacturing hubs such as Vietnam and China have increased costs for the sportswear sector over the past year, while a recent US Supreme Court ruling against tariffs has added uncertainty for importers. Coppetti told Reuters he wanted greater clarity and more free trade.

The Busan launch coincides with the release of the LightSpray Cloudmonster 3 Hyper, the first model produced at the new factory, following the debut of the LightSpray marathon shoe at the Paris Olympics in 2024. On-sponsored athlete Hellen Obiri wore the shoes when she won the New York Marathon in November, as the company competes with larger rivals including Nike and Adidas in high-performance running footwear.

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