The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2012
New Balance sold toning shoes as exercise — the science said they were shoes
2012: New Balance paid $2.3M to settle false-advertising claims over toning shoes — after Reebok's $25M and Skechers' $40M, the third shoe in the same trap.
New Balance · 2012-08
What happened
New Balance marketed its toning shoes — Rock&Tone, TrueBalance, the Aravon line — as superior to regular walking shoes: they would strengthen and tone leg muscles and burn more calories, simply by being worn. Retail sales of toning shoes hit $145 million in 2009 and more than $252 million in 2010. The FTC had already settled with Reebok for $25 million over the same claims; the science did not support them.
Three women filed the class action in 2011, and in August 2012 a Massachusetts federal judge gave preliminary approval to a $2.3 million settlement: refunds of about $100 per pair for buyers from January 2010 onward, plus an injunction barring New Balance from advertising muscle-strengthening benefits without a clinical study to back them.
The case is the latecomer's lesson in a regulatory sweep: the FTC had already priced the claim at $25 million against Reebok and $40 million against Skechers, yet New Balance kept selling it. Entering a claim the regulator has already ruled false does not make the claim truer — it makes the settlement cheaper only by comparison.
Why it happened
- The muscle-toning and calorie-burning claims had no clinical evidence behind them.
- The FTC had already settled identical claims against Reebok and Skechers — the claim was known to be false.
- The settlement fund bought the claim back at $100 a pair, plus an injunction demanding clinical proof.
The lesson
When a regulator has already priced a claim false against two competitors, running the same claim is not late to market — it is knowingly false advertising.
Aftermath
The settlement covered toning shoes bought from January 2010 to August 2012 and barred muscle-strengthening claims without clinical studies. The toning-shoe category collapsed as every major seller settled.
Sources
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