In 2016, Kanye West released The Life of Pablo, an album that, to many listeners, sounded like a rush-job. Rather than leave it alone, West continued tinkering, tweaking lyrics, remixing tracks and even adding entirely new songs months after its release. In other words, he’d fucked up, and was now fixing it in public, in real time. It wasn't necessarily some grand artistic experiment – at least not to begin with. But ultimately, the album became a living project (or ‘living art’, as some of the more excited outlets put it).
A similar experiment is taking place in Zurich, where On and Kylian Mbappé are treating the development of their first football boot as an evolving piece of design. Since the Frenchman’s blockbuster move from Nike in September, we’ve seen several different prototypes, from the original all-white KM010 to the chrome-soled KM410 worn during El Clásico. Where most brands keep their prototypes under wraps, On have invited us along for the ride, letting us watch it take shape, match by match.
The latest version to see pitch action is the ON-DCPT-KM710, which debuted during Real Madrid’s 3-0 victory over Valencia on November 7. On the surface, the update is largely cosmetic, with the previously metallic soleplate swapped for a translucent fuchsia finish to match Real’s rizzy third kit.
Just days later, Mbappé was spotted training at France’s Clairefontaine base in yet another custom colourway, this time with a royal blue and red sole setup for Les Bleus. By testing out new tweaks and updates, the striker has effectively become the world's highest-profile beta tester.
Knowing people are watching, On have been serving up behind-the-scenes posts on Instagram, with their most recent commentary on the KM710 pointing to a ‘direct ball touch’, a ‘barefoot sensation getting closer’, a ‘stud configuration tuned for swifter turns’ and an outsole that ‘responded well to rapid changes of direction’.
There's nothing unusual about a prototype undergoing constant refinement – that's the whole point, with Mbappé's insights helping to guide the process – yet the transparency and pace feels unprecedented.
Helping On move at such a clip are its proprietary technologies, including LightSpray. The robotic spraying process creates lightweight, seamless uppers in just three minutes, replacing a conventional manufacturing process that involved approximately 200 steps. Crucially, it also allows new designs to be turned into prototypes within hours.
It’s a glimpse into a future where footwear designers can react to the whims of their talent almost as quickly as they arise, obliterating the traditional feedback cycle that may take weeks or even months. Imagine Mbappé suffers a meaty challenge in training, and decides he needs a little more support around the midfoot for his next match. In theory, On might be able to rework the sprayed upper and have a fresh pair ready for him to test within days.
Then there’s the marketing aspect. Who needs six months of cryptic Instagram teasers and some painfully earnest campaign film about ‘redefining the future of football’ and all that blah, blah, blah? The wait has become the campaign itself, and every new look becomes another talking point, another opportunity to scrutinise the details.
When you’ve got one of the world’s most famous footballers acting as your wear tester, even a new soleplate becomes headline news – as this very article demonstrates. In their latest quarterly results, On revealed that the announcement of their partnership with Mbappé had become the most-watched brand moment in the company's history, so it makes sense to turn the development of his football boot into a spectacle in its own right.
It explains why Mbappé was attracted to On in the first place. He was hardly short of special treatment at Nike, where he received plenty of personalised Mercurials (and even his own TNs!). But there’s a difference between being the biggest name attached to an established product franchise, and having an entire football operation built around you.
Nike had little reason to rip up the Mercurial playbook just to accommodate one footballer, no matter his pulling power. Doing so could risk provoking discontent among their other blue-chip stars (namely Kylian’s great goal-scoring rival, Erling Haaland). Mbappé was infamously referred to as ‘the dictator’ for his supposed sway over everything from signings to managers, and he’s now the undisputed centrepiece of On's football operation – which also counts rising women's star Sydney Schertenleib among its ranks. Presumably, part of the allure is knowing he won't have to share top billing with another superstar so long as he's playing.
The first On football boot won’t officially arrive until 2027. But as the technology to tweak shoes almost on demand takes shape, are we nearing a point where a definitive version doesn't even make sense? On’s co-founders have talked about LightSpray factories sitting close to customers, and the machine has already toured pop-ups so that shoppers can watch a pair being made. Who knows – maybe one day we’ll all be dropping into the local store for our own bespoke boots, fresh off the robot.
Kanye gave us the living album. Ten years later, Mbappé might be pioneering the living boot. The difference is, this ain’t no fuck-up.
In other football news, we got the inside scoop on the Predator Touch’s return after 30 years.