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Survey: 70 percent of FiveFingers owners will keep toe shoes despite lawsuit

Seventy percent of FiveFingers toe shoe owners will continue to wear the shoes, according to a DealNews survey. The results come after the FiveFingers' company, Vibram, recently settled a lawsuit about misleading claims of the health benefits of the shoes.

  • By Lindsay Sakraida Guest blogger

Last week, we learned that Vibram had settled a lawsuit that accused the company of offering misleading claims about the health benefits of its FiveFingers toe shoes. As we noted in a previous feature, the company is required to pay out $3.75 million to customers who purchased Vibram FiveFingers after March 21, 2009.

Moreover, Vibram can no longer make any claims about the health benefits of its shoes without scientific research to support it. Given the conflicting nature of studies on barefoot running, this may be difficult for Vibram to circumvent. In light of the dilemma, we asked DealNews readers — who have been very interested in FiveFingers shoes over the years — what they thought. 

As it turns out, a full 70% of respondents who own Vibram shoes will continue to wear them, despite the hubbub about false claims. Whether those same people will file for a refund of up to $94 (once the settlement website is up and running) remains to be seen.

Running Shoes That Aren't Vibram

Of course, there's still a full 30% of people who are less likely to continue wearing Vibram footwear while running this spring. And since we'd hate to see these outdoor enthusiasts miss out on the suddenly-grand weather we're seeing, we've rounded up a few of the hottest sneaker deals on the site to tide you over.

Lindsay Sakraida is the features director for dealnews.com, where this article first appeared. http://dealnews.com/features/Despite-Lawsuit-70-of-Vibram-Owners-Will-Continue-to-Wear-Five-Fingers/1049172.html

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