Adidas Japan raided for allegedly fixing price on EasyTone shoes

TOKYO, April 12 (Reuters) - Adidas AG's (ADSGn.DE) Japanese unit was raided by the Fair Trade Commission on Tuesday for allegedly pressuring retailers not to discount its popular EasyTone muscle-toning shoes, a local Adidas spokeswoman said.

She declined to elaborate. Kyodo News reported that Adidas Japan was suspected of pressuring retailers to sell the product for 10,000 to 15,000 yen ($118-177), and of suspending shipments for stores that did not comply.

Adidas, the world's second-biggest sporting goods maker, began selling the EasyTone shoes, under the Reebok brand, in 2009 in Japan. The series has more than half the market for muscle-toning shoes in Japan, estimated at about 10 billion yen annually, Kyodo said. ($1 = 84.600 Japanese Yen) (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Chris Gallagher)