2024-01-24 04:02:06
Roger Federer’s image damaged in Switzerland? The margins of the On Running sports shoe brand, sold like the tennis champion’s sneakers, have caused a stir in Switzerland since a consumer magazine revealed the gap between their purchase price in Vietnam and the prices sales in Switzerland.
The Swiss magazine Ktipp published a survey last week which reviewed the customs records of around thirty models to compare them to the sales prices on the brand’s website in Switzerland.
For the model called “Roger advantage”, for example, the Swiss brand pays 17.86 Swiss francs (18.89 euros) from manufacturers in Vietnam. On its site in Switzerland, this model is then sold for 190 francs (around 200 euros), “or more than ten times its ex-factory cost”, underlines the magazine which notes that the margins of this Swiss brand are even higher than those of competitors like “Adidas or Puma”.
The feeling of “running on clouds”
The brand was created in 2010 by Swiss duathlon champion Olivier Bernhard, who developed a system with an engineer from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich to absorb shocks during the race. The company – whose turnover amounted to 1.2 billion Swiss francs in 2022 – manufactures these high-performance sports shoes with soles that should give the impression of “running on clouds”, according to the brand slogan.
The founders of this Zurich company then contacted Roger Federer after seeing him with one of their models on his foot, offering to invest in the company. Very popular with athletes, this Swiss brand was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021.
Turmoil in Switzerland
The Swiss magazine’s investigation sparked numerous reactions in the country of the tennis champion who holds the record for the number of victories at Wimbledon. “Sustainable management consists of equitably sharing the fruits of value creation,” responded Oliver Cassen, spokesperson for the NGO Public Eye.
“If the trade margin of a brand company is so much larger than the margin of shoe factories,” he added, “then the balance is not good,” the spokesperson added. this NGO which regularly publishes reports on working conditions in the fashion and clothing industry.
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