Adidas will expand its toning shoe category, even after the US consumer watchdog called into question their health benefits, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
“We haven’t seen a collapse in sales,” Herbert Hainer told journalists in Moscow.
Adidas last year sold around 8 million pairs of the shoes, marketed under Reebok EasyTone, and Hainer said the category would be expanded as it offered good margins.
Reuters
Adidas unit Reebok last month agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges that it made unsupported claims that its toning shoes help wearers get fit faster.
The Federal Trade Commission criticised advertisements by Reebok that its shoes strengthened hamstrings and calves by up to 11 percent more than regular sneakers and toned the buttocks up to 28 percent more.
Hainer said Reebok had changed the advertising to no longer include percentages. Adidas said at the time it did not agree with the FTC allegations and only chose to settle to avoid a legal battle.
Reuters
