FILA Product Recall: Memory Fresh 2 Running Shoes — Memory Defect

WASHINGTON, District of Columbia—South Korea-based sporting goods manufacturer FILA issued a press release today that announced a product recall to retrofit all styles of its Memory Fresh 2 Running Shoes because of a defect in the memory capacity of the memory foam insole, which measures and recalls foot positioning and comfort-level dimensions.

The press release states that the synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) module that is embedded into the memory foam insole does not accurately capture and remember foot impressions in some Memory Fresh 2 Running Shoes sizes.

FILA has issued a retrofit module that upgrades the double data rate (DDR) of the memory foam to DDR3 and increases the SDRAM capacity from 1 gigabyte to 2 gigabytes. Shoe sizes affected are sizes 10 and higher for men and sizes 9 and higher for women, in all styles of Memory Fresh 2 Running Shoes.

Memory foam is a solid, viscous, elastic foam that moves when pressure is applies and returns to the original shape when pressure is removed.

In the Memory Fresh 2 Running Shoes design, FILA features an open-cell polyurethane—a synthetic polymer that has a network of tiny pores or bubbles that shift under pressure—insole to create dynamics made by foot impressions when the shoes are worn. The memory module measures, records, stores, and then automatically recalls the foot impression data generated by the memory foam when the shoes are worn again.

Soo-Soo Yoon, FILA U.S.A. Vice President for Running Shoes Marketing, responding by telephone from the company’s headquarters at Sparks, Maryland, said the company has received hundreds of complaints about runners not being able to “break the shoes in.”

Ms. Yoon explained, “Runners are complaining that it’s like putting on the shoes for the very first time every time they wear the shoes because the shoes keep forgetting their settings.”

“Initially, we thought it’s a memory foam problem, but our engineers determined the issue was with memory capacity. So the best solution was to upgrade the memory module and increase the memory.”

Consumers can carry their shoes to any major sports retailers, and the retrofit will be done in-store.

Ms. Yoon estimated that replacing the current memory module with the higher-technology DDR3 SDRAM 2-gigabyte module should take no longer than 30 minutes, depending on the number of retrofits a retailer could be processing at a given time.

FILA has designated several retailers that will be able to retrofit any Memory Fresh 2 Running Shoes style:

• Big 5 Sporting Goods
• Champs Sports
• Dick’s Sporting Goods
• Foot Locker
• Modell’s
• Play It Again Sports
• Sports Authority
• The Finish Line.

Consumers have until March 31, 2016, to get their shoes retrofitted.