The makers of Hulu's Fyre documentary expose a new scammy subject: multi-level marketing. LuLaRoe sells stretchy patterned clothing, but their main business is selling a dream of financial freedom to new sellers. According to The Guardian, the company allegedly makes money "through the unsustainable recruitment of new members." Like many other MLMs, the company sends messages to people— often women, often mothers looking for extra cash— that selling LuLaRoe can turn them "boss babe" and offer them "part-time work for full time pay." For many sellers, that empty promise had devestating consequences. Buy-in costs could be ten thousand dollars, sales quotas could be unsustainable, and while some people succeeded, many found themselves in a financial nightmare.
"By the end of 2016, what had started in 2012 as a homespun business selling maxi skirts out of the trunk of a car by two Mormon grandmothers had reached over $1.3bn in sales with over 60,000 consultants – and faced lawsuits alleging that LuLaRoe founders Mark and DeAnne Stidham misled retailers and ran a pyramid scheme."
The Guardian
LuLaRoe suffered from very public turmoil in 2017, and though the company has been decimated by lawsuits, it still exists, and it still has some engaged sellers— some of whom left negative reviews on the docuseries. Ex-LuLaRoe seller Roberta Blevins, who was featured in "LuLaRich," read some of the one-star reviews on her Instagram.
"She then turned to the company's 2020 numbers, which show, she says, that "50% of the company made less than $5,000 in the year.'"
Variety
