The New On Cloudsurfer 2 Is a High-Tech Shoe for Breezy, Everyday Running

In a lot of ways, the On Cloudsurfer 2 isn’t your average shoe from the Swiss running brand. If you haven’t had your head in its trademark clouds, the reasons why won’t be clear, and much of it has to do with tech—CloudTec, to be specific, which are those holey outsole “pods” that made On shoes look so unique in a sea of similar-looking running shoes. Spoiler Alert: The Cloudsurfer 2 doesn’t have them. It’s also not the second Cloudsurfer (it’s the eighth) but On reset the count with a wholesale redesign that replaced those CloudTec pods with something called CloudTec Phase, which might look similar, but any runner familiar with this lineage will know feels very, very different.

Tech has always been important to On. Very recently the company revealed a laceless marathon shoe that’s essentially 3D-printed, and Hellen Obiri went and won the Boston Marathon in it. Twice. (There must really be something to that “Swiss Engineering” we’ve all heard so much about.) But that shoe doesn’t have CloudTec pods at all. Loads of runners wear and love On shoes, but it’s also been a common complaint heard among shoe geeks and run clubs that the feel of Ons was always a little off.

Then the first Cloudsurfer arrived, and those shrugs of ambivalence turned into nods of approval. The shoe still looked and felt distinctly On, but it rolled through runs at a more familiar tempo. The critics agreed: On found its footing with this one. But what about the Cloudsurfer 2? Does the just-released update continue on the skyward trajectory set by the Swiss shoemaker? I’ve been running in a pair for the past few weeks to see for myself.

How Do They Look?

Despite the midsole shakeup, the new Cloudsurfer still looks decidedly on-brand for On. It has sleek, perforated nylon mesh upper with stitched lace loops at the toe and tongue ends—and it comes in the slick, understated colorways that On is known for. The keen-eyed will notice that the Cloudsurfer 2 has more mesh vents, which is a direct response to critiques that the previous iteration could’ve been more breathable.

The Cloudsurfer 2 has sleek, perforated nylon mesh upper with stitched lace loops at the toe and tongue ends.

Tanner Bowden

Then there’s the midsole—podless. Instead, CloudTec Phase uses a combination of Helion and strategically placed pass-throughs that were generated in a computer-powered process called Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Their pattern lets you see the purpose as clearly as you can see through that midsole; the pockets collapse and expand as the shoe rolls through each step, absorbing and then returning energy in the process.

CloudTec Phase makes the Cloudsurfer 2 look a little different from older On shoes, but fans of the aesthetic won’t be disappointed by the changes. If anything, it’s an even sleeker shoe than it used to be.

How Do They Fit?

On says that CloudTec Phase makes the Cloudsurfer 2 “soft” and “plush,” but in the running world these words have been given new meaning in recent years by shoes like the New Balance X 1080 and Brooks Glycerine Max, where the midsoles feel like they’re made of marshmallows. The Cloudsurfer’s a little stiffer than that. I don’t feel like I’m sinking into them when I lace up, or like those domino-shaped holes beneath my feet are collapsing under my weight.