Under Armour "Unarmored": A Class Action in New York Accuses the Brand of False Scientific Claims

*** The writing does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice by any means***

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Athletic fashion companies such as Lululemon saw its sales soaring in the midst of the pandemic. According to CNBC, Lululemon reported $1.1 billion in sales for Q3, which corresponds to a 22% increase in comparison to the last year. Its earnings report further stated that e-commerce has been the key driving force behind the success. As the pandemic prolongs, people's demand for comfy athletic apparels would not easily dwindle for the foreseeable future. Under Armour fared relatively worse than its peers, but it still managed to maintain the last year's revenue streams. Especially, its footwear and accessories divisions registered a sales growth of 19% and 23% respectively. Despite all these cheerful news, Under Armour is now on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit over its Rush workout fabric. 

Per Bloomberg, plaintiffs allege that Under Armour made baseless claims about its latest performance-enhancing technology. Since I'm not an expert in science, I will just parrot what the complaint claims. When the Rush fabric was rolled out in the market, Under Armour proudly introduced that the fabric "absorb[s] energy emitted by the body and reflect it back into tissues and muscles", thereby enhancing a wearer's endurance and strength. Under Armour analogized the mechanism to that of "the fabric version of an infrared sauna", which the complaint essentially calls out for being scientifically infeasible. The complaint points out that infrared "would be unable to penetrate the skin and achieve the promised effects such as increased circulation". To me, it seems like a claim sounding in false advertising.

The complaint was filed last month in a federal court in New York and a judge has to first decide whether to certify plaintiffs as a class. In an earlier post, I went to great lengths about the four requirements for class certification. The federal requirements are numerosity, commonality, typicality, and adequacy. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(a). Please take a moment to review the post to understand the rationale of each requirement because it offers a balanced way of viewing the legal system. I do not have an exact copy of the complaint on my desk yet, but once I get one via PACER, an electric public access service for federal court documents, I will make sure to go over the nitty-gritty of the complaint. For now, it seems like Under Armour might be unarmored.