Please be advised that certain new shoes may pose a tripping hazard, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday against Adidas. The Chicago Sun-Times reports (via the ABA Journal) that a woman is alleging she was injured in 2010 because her new Adidas Midiru shoes were designed and made of materials "that had a tendency to stick together when they came into contact with each other."
According to Adidas, the Midiru has a "full grain leather upper" and a "grippy rubber outsole." I'm no shoe expert, but I think many shoes are made of these two substances, and yet involuntary pavement diving of the kind alleged here seems to be rare. An unscientific study that I just did in my own mind suggests that such falls correlate more closely with alcohol consumption than shoe composition, but my sample is pretty limited. I found no online reviews of this product that mentioned any stickiness problems. They were, however, described inter alia as being "super cute" and as having little sparkles in the stripes, so they may be dangerously distracting. But this plaintiff appears to be alleging a manufacturing and/or design defect, not some sort of attractive nuisance.
If you have experienced any stickiness issues with the Midiru or similar products, please let me know so that I can inform my readers. If you have witnessed anyone else experiencing a stickiness issue with the Midiru or similar products, please send me the video so that I can entertain my readers. Finally, until the potential risks can be fully ascertained, you may wish to walk in such a way that your feet do not come into contact with each other during the walking process.
Good luck out there.
