H = Heroes don’t wear capes anymore
Foam has been the running industry’s go-to cushioning material for decades. And with good reason. Foam can offer everything a runner wants from cushioning. The headache for shoe developers was that it couldn’t do it all at the same time. Foams that promised massive energy return were also the heaviest. Those that weighed less didn’t last as long. There always had to be a trade off. Until now.
Meet Helion: foam cushioning without compromise. It's Swiss-engineered specifically as cushioning that can do it all. Lightweight yet durable. Big on rebound and temperature resistance. In short, everything you need to run on the road.
The secret is the way the foam is constructed. Advanced production processes make it possible to combine rigid, stable sections with more flexible foam elements along the same molecular chains. This fusion offers benefits that were previously only possible with two separate materials, combining all ingredients for the ultimate run in a single superfoam.
E = Energy return
In its simplest form, running performance is about energy. The more you have, the further and faster you can go. Let’s break it down stride by stride.
When you land during a run, you create energy (with a little help from gravity). Some of it is captured in the ‘system’ formed by you and your shoe. The goal is to take as much of that stored energy as possible with you into your next take-off. This is ‘energy return’. In simple terms, the bigger the energy return, the less effort it takes for you to move at speed. Sounds good right? Yeah – energy return is kind of a big deal for runners.
The On philosophy has always been that you should take more of your energy forwards with you on the run. And Helion takes this thinking even further. The soft elements within the superfoam load up with energy as they compress when your foot hits the ground. The stiffer sections then come into play as the foam rebounds back to retake its original shape, returning energy into the push-off in the process.
The propulsion effect is further enhanced by the carefully crafted Speedboard™ in every On shoe, a stiff plate that fires like a bow to convert even more of your running momentum into forward motion. Then there’s the CloudTec® cushioning, which compresses on landing to absorb impact and create a firm platform for the explosive take-off. Adding Helion into the mix now brings even more performance to this already (world-title) winning combination.