06 May On Roger Pro 2 Clay Review: Federer’s $200 Shoes Are A Huge Dissapointment
I’m a huge Roger Federer fan. In fact, I traveled around Switzerland in his footsteps and wrote a (cracking!) book about it, Footsteps of Federer: A Fan’s Pilgrimage Across 7 Swiss Cantons in 10 Acts. And so, I was stoked when Roger became intimately involved in the design of running and tennis sneakers with the “Swiss engineered” On Running shoe company. It took me some time to buy my first pair because, at first, they didn’t produce tennis shoes (I’m not a runner) and then later because of the high price tag. But I finally pulled the trigger a few months ago and forked over $200—more than I’ve ever spent on any shoes in my life— to buy a pair of white Roger Pro 2 Clay tennis shoes. For that price and with Roger’s name attached, they had to be good, right?
The shoes fit but they felt very uncomfortable when I tried to play in them. The insole cushioning is extremely flimsy, the uppers between the toe box and the laces are very tight and constricting and they’re very flat and extremely stiff. I hoped they just needed to be broken in so I wore them twice more. When they didn’t get better, I tried to return them. They were still in pristine condition and looked brand new. But here’s the reply I got from Karl, a member of the “On Happiness Delivery Team” who described himself in his subject line as a “Happiness Deliverer.”
After a careful review of your claim, we are not able to identify a manufacturing or factory defect. The concern indicated in the claim appears to be fit-related, which is unfortunately outside of our warranty terms and conditions and not eligible for a full replacement.
Karl, the happiness guy, concluded by offering me a measly 20% coupon just in case I want to blow another couple hundred bucks on more of their uncomfortable, un-returnable shoes. No thanks! The frustrating thing is that the shoes FIT, they’re just incredibly uncomfortable. And I don’t think $200 shoes should be uncomfortable, do you?
Now my $200 Roger Pros are just gathering dust in my closet because I bought a pair of $119 Addidas Barricade Clay sneakers from Amazon and I love them! And so, my experiment with On tennis shoes was a costly lesson that I will not repeat. I also note that unlike other companies, On doesn’t allow you to rate their shoes on their website. Hence the review right here.
VERDICT: ZERO STARS