The company who had started the barefoot running trend less than ten years ago decided to settle a class-action lawsuit that challenged its advertising claim. The Washington Post reported that Vibram has decided to set aside $3.75 million for customers who have purchased their Five Fingers shoes and wished to get a refund.
The lawsuit was spurred by a woman's ire on the company's alleged advertising claim, which the Post said had forced even sports bigwigs Nike, Brooks and other major shoe company to jump into the trend. According to the woman who had filed the complaint and sought group status, Vibram had deceived its customers to buying the weird-looking shoes without any scientific backup. Vibram has publicly claimed that its shoes could decrease foot injuries and strengthen foot muscles in the process. Its claims were further cemented when a popular book titled "Born to Run" had celebrated the benefits of running barefoot and a rigorous study of barefoot running by a Harvard anthropologist.
It could be recalled that the barefoot trend Vibram had started was key to the company's success in the footwear market. The Post noted that the Five Fingers footwear composed 10% of the $588 million US running shoe market, with Vibram experiencing a 303% growth spurt between between November 2010 and November 2012. This was big, considering that the growth of running shoes overall for the same period only posted 19%.
According to court papers, Vibram has not admitted to any wrongdoing nor have conceded to any actual or potential fault with regard to advertising health benefits that its weird-looking Five Fingers shoes offer to the customers. On the other hand, the Post said that the debate on whether there is truth to the health benefits of barefoot running remains to be settled, as there is still conflicting research on the subject and that there are actual consumer experiences who have good experiences with barefoot running as when compared to the traditional running.
