Disclaimer: The clothes offered by said company are not my style, and even if they offered clothes I liked, the company doesn't make anything in my size.
Last year's "Tiger King" sent my brain for a spin. I wasn't expecting "LuLaRich" to blow my mind...but it did!
The documentary starts off with the affable owners DeAnne and Mark Stidham sitting down for a convo about themselves, their family, and the meteoric rise of their business. I'm thinking- wow, how cool DeAnne is as she uses the tried and true "party plan" to sell her skirts!
As the story progresses, I figure the truth is somewhere between the perma smile DeAnne exhibits and the frustration of former consultants. Some of the former consultants were earning monthly bonus checks in excess of $40k. How bad could the culture at LuLaRoe be?
And then BAM! Tales of company pressure to recruit people as consultants, poor clothing quality, and rigorous social media expectations come to light. Okay, this is de rigueur stuff for any "home sales party" type of business.
What I didn't expect was:
1. Sell your breast milk to raise funds for what was a $5k start up fee 2. Spend 5 minutes on your knees daily and your husband won't care how much money you spend 3. DeAnne and/or her sister scheduling trips to Tijuana so consultants can have weight loss surgery- to help present the LuLaRoe image of successful, skinny consultants 4. A business with a mantra of empowering women to achieve financial success, yet incorporating patriarchal tropes into business training (I am just a helpless woman at the mercy of you big, strong men.) 5. Mark quoting the Book of Mormon during consultant trainings and comparing himself to Joseph Smith 6. A cult-like meeting where LuLaRoe rented a stadium and paid Katie Perry $5 million to perform 7. A homogeneous group of over 80k consultants (at the companies height) that were self-described as very white, very blonde DeAnne look a likes. Yes, there is some diversity with the company, however, the aesthetic of the company tends to hit the mark with the "basic" white woman 8. Scenes from a recorded deposition (if you don't pay the correct amount of sales tax or set your business up like an illegal pyramid scheme, expect to be hauled into court) where DeAnne comes off as a fake, greedy reptile.
I'll stop- you'll have to watch the four-part documentary on Amazon to find out the rest of the story.
After seeing this documentary, I wouldn't buy their clothes. How do you spend your money with company whose business model "works" because it keeps 80% of its consultants poor? And, before I get too self-righteous, I'm sure a documentary that exposed who makes my clothes would leave me gobsmacked as well. I'll channel my best DeAnne when I glibly say- "I love fashion" and ignore what's behind the scenes of of making my clothes.
Last year's "Tiger King" sent my brain for a spin. I wasn't expecting "LuLaRich" to blow my mind...but it did!
The documentary starts off with the affable owners DeAnne and Mark Stidham sitting down for a convo about themselves, their family, and the meteoric rise of their business. I'm thinking- wow, how cool DeAnne is as she uses the tried and true "party plan" to sell her skirts!
As the story progresses, I figure the truth is somewhere between the perma smile DeAnne exhibits and the frustration of former consultants. Some of the former consultants were earning monthly bonus checks in excess of $40k. How bad could the culture at LuLaRoe be?
And then BAM! Tales of company pressure to recruit people as consultants, poor clothing quality, and rigorous social media expectations come to light. Okay, this is de rigueur stuff for any "home sales party" type of business.
What I didn't expect was:
1. Sell your breast milk to raise funds for what was a $5k start up fee 2. Spend 5 minutes on your knees daily and your husband won't care how much money you spend 3. DeAnne and/or her sister scheduling trips to Tijuana so consultants can have weight loss surgery- to help present the LuLaRoe image of successful, skinny consultants 4. A business with a mantra of empowering women to achieve financial success, yet incorporating patriarchal tropes into business training (I am just a helpless woman at the mercy of you big, strong men.) 5. Mark quoting the Book of Mormon during consultant trainings and comparing himself to Joseph Smith 6. A cult-like meeting where LuLaRoe rented a stadium and paid Katie Perry $5 million to perform 7. A homogeneous group of over 80k consultants (at the companies height) that were self-described as very white, very blonde DeAnne look a likes. Yes, there is some diversity with the company, however, the aesthetic of the company tends to hit the mark with the "basic" white woman 8. Scenes from a recorded deposition (if you don't pay the correct amount of sales tax or set your business up like an illegal pyramid scheme, expect to be hauled into court) where DeAnne comes off as a fake, greedy reptile.
I'll stop- you'll have to watch the four-part documentary on Amazon to find out the rest of the story.
After seeing this documentary, I wouldn't buy their clothes. How do you spend your money with company whose business model "works" because it keeps 80% of its consultants poor? And, before I get too self-righteous, I'm sure a documentary that exposed who makes my clothes would leave me gobsmacked as well. I'll channel my best DeAnne when I glibly say- "I love fashion" and ignore what's behind the scenes of of making my clothes.