On Cloudeasy review

You've found your walking companiOn if:

• You're looking for a lightweight and breathable pal for your long walks and all-day wear.
• You're a slip-on lover and you need something simple to go with most of your outfits.
• You want an urban all-rounder that is comfortable and stylish.
• You are an eco-fighter and you buy shoes made with recycled materials.

If it's usually rainy in your town, this shoe is a pass. Its upper is not weather resistant, and its outsole will make you dance (and in the worst way possible) around town instead of walking; it's not grippy on wet surfaces! As an alternative, have a look at the On Cloud 5 Waterproof. It will battle cold and rainy weather without batting an eye (or a lace)!

If you're looking for something with better traction, then you should have a look at some of our hiking shoes. Click on our filters to check pairs with different features or from different groups, such as the urban hiking ones, or the waterproof ones.

When we go for a walk, some people prefer close-to-the-ground shoes, but others love extra plush pairs. If you want to feel like you're walking on clouds, and you don't mind changing brands as long as you keep the slip-on design, then we recommend the Skechers Go Walk Flex.

We did enjoy walking with this pair around, but... if you wanna keep it light, then you can't keep it plush!

At 27.5 mm, our calliper told us this pair's heel stack is almost 5 mm lower than average. But don't worry, we guarantee you this pair is apt for long hours of use. It's just that, ironically... you won't feel like you're walking in clouds!

If you're looking for an extra padded companion, we think you should check the On Cloudnova Form out!

The forefoot stack follows the same pattern, and it's also lower than average.

At 18.8 mm, your feet will feel quite close to the ground when walking. This is ideal if you're looking for a model that lets you control your every move and feel quite stable.

If this sounds appealing to you and you're interested in the barefoot experience, then you should check the Vibram FiveFingers shoes! Check it out:

Note: If you're used to extra plush walking pals, then we recommend you start your barefoot journey with a lower stack model (just like the On Cloudeasy). Don't go for a pair like the Vibram Furoshiki (the one shown in the video) right away! Your body and muscles need some time to get used to this new way of walking.

As Yoda would say: "Patience you must have, my young Padawan."

As we've mentioned before, this shoe doesn't have a high stack. What's more, the differences between the heel and the forefoot heights are also not that big, which leaves us with a drop of 8.7 mm.

This means both parts are quite close to the ground, so the Cloudeasy focuses equally on forefoot, midfoot, and heel strickers. When we put it on, our strides felt natural and stable.

We were ready to walk around all day and move On!

At 26.4 HA, the softness of these pretty pals' midsole is quite close to the average. This pairs up just fine with its not-so-high midsole stack!

As we mentioned before, this feature just adds more points to the Cloudeasy's overall great stability. Also, this model has the Half Speedboard® in its midsole, which let us enjoy a full-day responsive ride.

And we LOVED every bit of it.

1, 2, 3... freeze!

If you're planning to wear the Cloudeasy when it's cold outside, we can't advise you against it.

Well, first things first. After sitting in our freezer for 20 minutes, its foam returned a reading of 30.5 HA. This is a wonderful result, as our durometer told us that this shoe is 9% softer than average when only penguins feel like going out. Which is... crazy good!

It does NOT feel like a brick, and we did NOT need a break-in period! So, as we were saying, it's not like we'll tell you you need some furry Chewbacca-coded shoes to fight the cold. Just don't forget the Cloudeasy is not the warmest pair out there.

Also, even if its midsole doesn't become a stone... you shouldn't wear these kicks if it's raining. If you're looking for a model to fight bad weather, then we think you should go for the On Cloud 5 Waterproof!

Stiffening up by 15.6% is NOTHING compared to other shoes' scores!

As we were saying before, this made us pretty happy, as our ride still felt comfy and soft even when temperatures dropped.

We believe that, in order to keep this pair's weight low, the brand decided to go for a thin insole. At 4.2 mm, our calliper told us clearly that this piece also follows the minimal style of the Cloudeasy.

Don't worry, even though it's more than 1.5 mm thinner than average, you'll definitely not feel uncomfortable walking around!

The Cloudeasy offers a pleasant sock-like fit around the foot without restricting it. But to check if it's indeed on par with the average walking shoe, we poured a mould of its interiors using a proprietary gel.

And just as we anticipated, the widest area of the shoe's mould returned a standard reading of 94.3 mm.

We also found that the taper angle of the Cloudeasy is quite gradual. On foot, it accommodates all five of our toes very well.

The calliper measurement confirmed our initial impression showing 71.0 mm. This is a typical width for the big toe area of a walking shoe in a men's US size 9 (D medium width). 

However, there is something important to be aware of in this shoe - its toebox fabric literally covers the toes like a sock! Look, you can see our toe sticking out right there! So if you tend to skip pedicures, the Cloudeasy may not be the shoe for you.

We rarely see this happen in walking shoes, to be honest, but it's not surprising considering that the toebox height of this On shoe is only 22.5 mm!

The lower the platform, the more stable the shoes!

When we ran some errands with this pair we didn't feel unstable or out of balance at all. Our stride was natural and reliable, and we felt pretty close to the ground to control our every move. Just not close enough to feel every pebble, though!

This pair doesn't have any extra supportive elements. It's not like it needs them, but just try not to run when you're wearing it! Its stretchy upper and slip-on sock-like fit are good enough to keep your feet in place when walking, but they're not made to support your feet and keep them in place if you run!

That extra lace you see on the side is not a supportive element either, it's just a fancy lace loop!

To balance the elastic fabric of its upper, this pair is more rigid than average.

We performed our torsional rigidity test manually, and the Cloudeasy did its best to fight us! It earned a 3 out of 5, where 5 is the most rigid. This means that it's flexible enough to bend with our feet, but also rigid enough to keep us stable!

A wOnderful combination!

Remember we were talking about stiffness? Well, for now, forget about that!

We didn't even need to use the Force to make the Cloudeasy's heel counter move, bend, and almost even dance as we told it to! It scored a 1 out of 5 in our stiffness test, which means it couldn't be any more flexible!

Oh, yeah, you might be wondering if this means that heel slippage will be an issue? Not at all! We walked for hours and hours in this pair, and it didn't happen. Not even once! Its sock-like fit hugged our feet in the right way.

So comfortable and so convenient! Thank you, On!

The heel collar is a part of a shoe that is very prone to abrasion. Look at it this way: when you walk, your heel is constantly rubbing against it, so it's not surprising that it ends up more worn out than other zones, right?

Nevertheless, when we walked around town with this part, we didn't really feel this shoe's heel padding was losing strength. So we decided to take it to our lab and see if our Dremel agreed!

After an eternal (4 seconds-long) fight against our tool, the results left us speechless! Scoring a well-deserved 3 out of 5 on our heel padding durability test, we just couldn't believe our eyes. Listen... this is just as if C3PO defeated the Sidth... and not in a dancing battle!

What we noticed is that there is an extra layer covering this part. Acting like an armour, it protects the flimsier knit from being obliterated.

That was just On point!

So this is what defeat looks like right here! On the left, we've got the On Cloudeasy and its 3/5; on the right, the UA Charged Assert 9 with its 1/5. Just look at the difference!

The same thing happens in the heel! At 91.0 mm, our calliper is telling us that this pair's midsole width in the heel is slightly higher than average.

This extra room and the flexible heel counter make this shoe's nature forgiving. This is possible thanks to the sock-like fit and wrap-around design. Why? Because the Cloudeasy doesn't need to be stiff and snug to make your feet stay in place. The elastic material of its upper does the job just fine!

This shoe moved naturally with our feet, which made it really comfortable to walk in.

Do you need some extra proof? Well, check the results of our stiffness test, then!

17.9 N of force (no, not that Star Wars force you're thinking of) is enough to bend the Cloudeasy 90 degrees. It's more flexible than average, and trust us, every stride on it felt like a dream!

As we were saying, this shoe is quite flexible, so it won't be like putting the armoured Millennium Falcon on your feet... not even if it's cold!

Even though it did become slightly stiffer after putting it next to our ice-cream for 20 minutes, the force now needed to bend it to 90 degrees again was nowhere near average! At 21.8N, this pair will keep its soft and comfortable ride even during winter.

It only stiffened up 22%, and the average walking pair does it more than twice as much!! Now that's some C3PO walking right there. But the Cloudeasy? Nah, couldn't be! There's no need to keep an eye On it, so don't worry!

Many On Cloud shoes are lighter than average, and the Cloudeasy didn't want to be an exception.

We didn't actually need to ask our scale, as we could feel it on our feet when we were walking around town. Right, yeah, it's not the lightest On Cloud shoe we have tested in our lab so far (if that's what you're looking for, have a look at the On Cloud 5 and its 7.94 oz / 225g), but it didn't drag our feet down or anything like that!

At 8.4 oz (237.0 g), it's like wearing a couple of feathers. And we can't possibly STRESS enough how much we love this feature in walking shoes!

Many of us love having toasts in the morning, but... in our feet? No, thank you!

Some shoes lack the much needed breathability for hot summer days, and they make your feet become FeetObi-Wan Ovenobi. To check this, what we do is pump the shoe's upper with smoke and observe how much of it comes out.

As you can see, the Cloudeasy has as much difficulty as Darth Vader when it comes to breathing if we compare it with the Saucony Triumph 20. But hey, isn't this cheating a little bit? Those Saucony are road running shoes! And the Cloudeasy is a walking one, so of course it's not gonna be as breathable.

Running away from the dark side, we put this pair in front of a light to check if it had any pores or perforations that would be large enough to let the light shine through... and it was a success! Their Jedi robe has small gaps.

We could see it clearly in our microscope. Those round gaps let the air go in and out and, even though there's clearly an extra layer underneath, the material is thin enough to let this shoe breathe peacefully.

See? Pretty cool, right?

But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Yes, this shoe won't make your feet burn... unless it's a very hot summer day. It scored a 3 out of 5 on our breathability test. And even though it's not a bad grade, it's not enough for you to enjoy these cuties when the sun is going all out.

If you're looking for a companion that won't make your feet sweaty, we recommend the On Cloud. These baddies scored a 5/5 on our breathability test. Just unbeatable!

As it doesn't have a tongue per se, we measured the part of the upper that covers our instep.

At 1.3 mm, we're not kidding when we say it's 73% less cushioned than average! This keeps the shoe's weight down and, as we can see in the video below, it's not something tongue-exclusive.

There's nothing in this pair that says plush!

Alright, we haven't used a lightsaber for this test, but we've got our Dremel... which is about as strong!

We pressed the sandpaper tip against the shoe's toebox for 12 seconds at a 5K RPM speed and 3.2N pressure. Before we show you the results, let us tell you that during our wearability tests, its upper showed us it was a worthy opponent, as it wasn't easily damaged even if we were slightly clumsy whilst wearing it (woopsie).

And the result confirmed our own experience: its knit upper is surprisingly wear-resistant! But you know what's even better? That's it's made from 100% recycled polyester!

Of course our Dremel would hurt it quite a bit, though. Like, it's knit, and even though it's black in this case, it's not Darth Vader's helmet. Still, our tool couldn't actually make a hole! Because of that, we rated the Cloudeasy's toebox durability with a solid 3 out of 5.

If you want to see what a shoe with a 5/5 on our durability test looks like, here you have the Hoka Kaha 2 GTX. But those are hiking boots! They NEED to be durable!

Still, let us tell you that On Cloud shoes are not known for their incredible durability. Many of them sacrifice the resistance of its upper to go for more breathable (but flimsy) materials, such as the On Cloud 5 Plush, which scored a 1/5 in toebox durability but a 5/5 in breathability!

The heel collar is a part of a shoe that is very prone to abrasion. Look at it this way: when you walk, your heel is constantly rubbing against it, so it's not surprising that it ends up more worn out than other zones, right?

Nevertheless, when we walked around town with this part, we didn't really feel this shoe's heel padding was losing strength. So we decided to take it to our lab and see if our Dremel agreed!

After an eternal (4 seconds-long) fight against our tool, the results left us speechless! Scoring a well-deserved 3 out of 5 on our heel padding durability test, we just couldn't believe our eyes. Listen... this is just as if C3PO defeated the Sidth... and not in a dancing battle!

What we noticed is that there is an extra layer covering this part. Acting like an armour, it protects the flimsier knit from being obliterated.

That was just On point!

So this is what defeat looks like right here! On the left, we've got the On Cloudeasy and its 3/5; on the right, the UA Charged Assert 9 with its 1/5. Just look at the difference!

We pressed our durometer against this pair's outsole. At 81.4 HC, it's way harder than average!

This means that the Cloudeasy is ready to walk the Jedi's path! In this part of a shoe, hardness equals durability, so this pair is ready to face any obstacles that might be in your way.

We tested its resolve in our outsole durability test.

Our Dremel tried its best, but it still couldn't go past the outsole. Even though the attack lasted a good 22 seconds, its rubber fought with all its might!

As you can see, the damage was minimal. At 0.8 mm, it's way less deep than usual, which means you should be able to walk with these pretty pals for at least 500 miles, trust us! We used this pair regularly for months, and we didn't see any traces of wear.

You must've probably noticed by now that this shoe looks like a Dalmatian underneath. We took our calliper and measured its black parts at 2.5 mm, which is a pretty standard thickness for walking shoes.

Even though this might not sound like much, it's not like this shoe needs an extra thick outsole. After all, the rubber material that is made of is quite hard, which means that it'll be durable even if it's thinner than, for example, the On Cloud's outsole (3.8 mm thick).

A long time ago, in a section of this review far, far away... We mentioned these pretty pals having a two-toned sole, right? This means that there are only some parts of it that are covered by rubber (which is called the outsole). Wait, it's easier to understand if you have a look at it:

The black parts protect the foam from surface abrasion when you walk, and... the white ones? Well, that's the exposed foam! Which is way weaker, by the way.

Regarding this pair's grip, we need to tell you that if we say it's alright... we're being generous. As you can see, the outsole doesn't have any kind of lugs or protuberances, so it's not grippy. Even though it should be just fine to walk around town, FORGET about wet floors!

The Cloudeasy has joined the dark side... make sure you don't if you want to walk around town at night!

As it doesn't have a tongue per se, we measured the part of the upper that covers our instep.

At 1.3 mm, we're not kidding when we say it's 73% less cushioned than average! This keeps the shoe's weight down and, as we can see in the video below, it's not something tongue-exclusive.

There's nothing in this pair that says plush!

A sock-like tongue is the cherry on top of this shoe's design!

As you can see, the whole upper is just one piece, tongue included! If we had a "sock or shoe" game, the Cloudeasy would be a tough guess!

This slip-on has a long finger-loop at the heel.

We really liked it, as it helped the Cloudeasy become... the Cloudeasier to put on! But let us warn you: it's quite flimsy, so just don't pull too hard!

The removable insole of this pair will let you change it for your own orthotics.

This was game-changing for us!

You see, this pair's insole is really thin, but as you can remove it, you can always grab a plusher one. Just keep in mind that the shoe wraps around your feet, so it might become a little bit more stuffed. This shouldn't bother you if you have narrow feet, but be careful if you're a wide-feet user!