In global branding, few signals sell like the Swiss cross. There are few people that are not mesmerized by the red-and-white magic. “Swiss Made” whispers precision, purity and premium—and consumers pay for it. That halo is why brands love Swissness. It’s also why Switzerland drew a bright legal line around who may claim it and how.

When a Sneaker Trips on a Flag

In 2025, Swiss sports brand On Running ran straight into that line. Although founded and engineered in Zürich, most of its shoes are made in Asia. Yet certain models sold abroad carried the Swiss cross. Swiss watchdogs said: not so fast. A complaint in China—filed with support from Switzerland’s IP office (IPI) and the Swissness Enforcement Association  (SEA)—pressed On to stop. On countered that the cross reflected “Swiss engineering” and design. At home, it had already removed the cross from products sold in Switzerland; abroad, it kept the emblem—and now seeks a ruling from Switzerland’s Federal Court on what the cross may legally stand for. The case crystallizes a simple truth: national symbols aren’t decoration; they’re regulated claims about origin.

What Swissness Really Means

Since 2017, Switzerland’s Swissness regime has turned reputation into law. To call a product “Swiss”—or to wear the Swiss cross—you must clear concrete thresholds. For industrial goods, at least 60% of production cost (including R&D) must be Swiss and the essential manufacturing step must occur in Switzerland. For foods, the bar is even tighter (e.g., 80% Swiss raw materials by weight and key processing in Switzerland; dairy requires Swiss milk). Services must be truly Swiss-run and Swiss-based. Meet the test and you may use “Swiss Made” and the cross. Miss it and you may not. The coat of arms (the cross in a shield) is off-limits to private companies altogether.

The Thomy mayonnaise jar was formerly displaying a bold Swiss cross on its label – an example of branding that had to change under the new law. Nestlé, which makes Thomy, had to remove the cross from some 80 products after 2017, as those items didn’t meet the new “Swiss Made” ingredient thresholds.

The Art of the Almost-Swiss

Global supply chains are real. The law allows qualified, truthful nods to a Swiss contribution—Designed in Switzerland, Swiss Engineered, Smoked in Switzerland—if that specific step happened entirely in Switzerland. Two guardrails matter. First, no cross unless the whole product qualifies as Swiss. Second, the Swiss reference must not overshadow the product’s actual origin. That’s why cookware makers like Kuhn Rikon re-labeled certain ranges Swiss Designed and dropped the flag icon; and why even giants like Nestlé scrubbed the cross from dozens of SKUs (think Thomy mayonnaise) when recipes no longer met the post-2017 thresholds. Alpine colors and imagery (Matterhorns, edelweiss) live in a grey zone: suggestive but typically tolerated—unless the overall impression misleads.

Think of Swissness claims on a risk ladder. At the top—the danger zone—sit origin claims or symbols on products that don’t qualify: a cross on an Asian-made watch, “Swiss Made” on non-Swiss cheese. These trigger seizures, lawsuits, rebranding. In the middle: ambiguous phrasing (Swiss Quality, Swiss Style) or background flags that could mislead depending on context. At the bottom: clear, factual statements (Designed in Switzerland, Made in Italy) and non-deceptive Swiss-themed aesthetics without origin claims. Brands can market real Swiss inputs—but must say exactly what is Swiss, and nothing more.

Switzerland enforces at home through the IPI and customs, which warn, fine, and block deceptive goods.  Recognizing the limits of acting alone, Swiss stakeholders formed the Swissness Enforcement Association (SEA) in 2021. This is a coalition of government bodies (like IPI) and major companies/industry groups, joining forces to fight misuse of Swiss branding abroad. The SEA coordinates legal actions and shares intelligence on offenders. The On Running case is a prime example of the SEA’s work – a private association (funded by Swiss industry) teaming up with a Swiss government office to confront a misuse in a foreign jurisdiction. On called it a “prank” and “denunciation”, but from SEA’s perspective, it’s a necessary defense of the Swiss brand. This kind of public-private enforcement strategy is becoming the playbook for Switzerland: customs officers, IPI lawyers, industry reps, and even consumers all act as sentinels.

In cooperative jurisdictions (notably China), trademark offices routinely reject marks that smuggle in Swiss or the cross without authorization. Often, a firm letter does the job; when it doesn’t, proceedings follow.

No Shortcuts to the Alps

The Swiss halo tempts non-Swiss companies—especially in the EU—to borrow the aura. Don’t. EU consumer and unfair-competition laws punish misleading geographic claims; Swiss authorities can and do raise cross-border alarms. Once a term becomes generic or abused the original signal erodes and is hard to reclaim—hence Switzerland’s vigilance. A telling example of cross-border impact is the “Swiss cheese” in the US market. In America, “Swiss cheese” is commonly used to denote a style of cheese (holey Emmental-type), often made domestically, not in Switzerland. This generic use frustrates Swiss producers because it weakens the association of “Swiss” with authentic origin. While the term has become generic there, Switzerland has fought to protect names in other categories (like “Emmentaler” as a geographic indication in Europe). The point is, once a term or symbol becomes generic or misused widely, it’s very hard to reclaim. So Swiss authorities are extremely proactive in places where they can still enforce the meaning of Swissness.

If you genuinely have a Swiss element—design in Geneva, a Swiss-made component—state it precisely and keep iconography restrained. If you don’t, signal quality another way. Authenticity scales, mimicry backfires.

Swissness isn’t a vibe; it’s a verifiable origin claim. Those who earn it may wear the cross proudly. Those who haven’t must resist the shortcut. The On case underlines the point: even a hip sneaker brand backed by a tennis legend can’t leapfrog legal thresholds by appealing to heritage alone. In branding—as in mountaineering—you don’t summit by cutting the switchbacks. There are no shortcuts to “Swiss Made.” Or, to put it in a metaphor that translates in any language: If you want to wear the Swiss cross, make sure you’ve earned it fair and square. The Swiss (and their enforcement squads) will be watching.