The Oregonian | By Aimee Green | April 18, 2017
A woman who ended up with holes on the backside of at least three pairs of her LuLaRoe brand leggings has filed a class action lawsuit against the garment manufacturer, asking that a Multnomah County Circuit judge ban the popular brand from selling leggings in Oregon.
Terri Doran’s lawsuit states that she splurged on several pairs at $25 a piece, and that each pair developed holes in the buttocks area shortly after she wore them. Her Portland attorney, Michael Fuller, said Doran asked for a refund, but the company refused because its policy doesn’t allow refunds on merchandise that’s been worn.
Doran, 52, is a single mother living in Keizer, according to her suit filed Monday.
The lawsuit points to many similar complaints filed by LuLaRoe leggings-wearers across the country. A Facebook group called “LuLaRoe Defective/Ripped /Torn Leggings And Clothes” has more than 25,000 members — and the company has been criticized for being unresponsive even though customers claim the company has know about a problem with weak fabric forming holes or tearing to expose their backsides — sometimes suddenly, in public places.
“We think there’s quite a few people in Oregon who are also dissatisfied and basically got a product that self-destructed after one or two uses,” Fuller said.
LuLaRoe didn’t immediately respond Tuesday to a phone call and an email seeking comment for this story.
But the lawsuit states that after Doran complained about the holes, the company told her a brushing process intended to make the fabric soft also weakens it.
LuLaRoe’s sales have been surging each month for the past year or two, and the company made an estimated $1 billion last year, according to news reports from Forbes and Business Insider. The company, which does business out of Wyoming and California, specializes in making colorful clothing that fits women of all sizes and is not sold in brick-and-mortar stores but through a network of tens of thousands of fashion “consultants” who sell out of living rooms or online forums.
Last month, two women filed a similar class-action lawsuit in federal court in California against LuLaRoe. Their lawsuit states the leggings have been described as tearing as easily as “wet toilet paper.”
According to Doran’s attorney, although Doran’s request for a refund was refused, the company did offer to send her a different pattern of leggings, but those patterns wouldn’t have matched the outfits she’d originally planned to wear with the leggings. What’s more, a replacement “isn’t any good if all you get is another pair of defective leggings,” Fuller said.
Doran’s lawsuit isn’t asking for a Multnomah County judge to award her sizable damages. However, in a demand letter to the company and in her lawsuit, Doran asks that LuLaRoe leggings be taken off the market in Oregon, that Oregon customers be given full refunds and that the company pay for her attorney’s fees.
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2017/04/after_holes_form_in_butt_of_25.html
