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'Whoopie' says shoe as maker groans
Associated Press
Published February 18, 2005
SANFORD - The customer complaints were unrelenting: With every step, their shoes made the sound of someone passing gas.
"They were whoopie cushions for the feet," said Bryan Thomas, an officer with shoemaker Goosebumps Products Inc.
The Orlando area company has sued a supplier, accusing it of delivering the wrong chemical for an insole gel, giving the shoes the unwanted sound effect.
"It very nearly put us out of business," Thomas said.
Goosebumps' largest distributor complained as well, and the company tossed out at least 35,000 pairs at a cost of $200,000 to $250,000, attorneys Robert W. Anthony and William H. Beaver II said.
Goosebumps blamed eight drums of glycerine delivered by Bell Chem Corp. of Longwood in late 2002 and early 2003.
Instead of food-grade glycerine, an ideal cushion for shoes, Bell Chem delivered a lower-grade variety that was also watered down, according to the suit.
That caused air bubbles to form inside the insoles, it said. When people step down on them, the inserts produce "a flatulence-like noise," according to a report by a Goosebumps' chemist, Richard Cavestri.
Bell Chem president John Cervo told the Orlando Sentinel the dispute was a matter between his insurance company and Goosebumps.
[Last modified February 18, 2005, 00:13:08]
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