Most individuals are probably just vaguely familiar with LuLaRoe. Crazy designs and modest styles that fit a more comprehensive range of body shapes than standard women’s retail were the company’s trademarks. LuLaRich on Prime featured interviews with the company’s founders, employees, top salespeople, and other women and families whose lives were impacted by LuLaRoe.
LuLaRich opened to an already-interested following, which isn’t surprising. As depicted in the series, over 80,000 people signed up to sell the company’s items, and even more, people bought them. Everyone who had a Facebook account in 2016 has heard of LuLaRoe, the direct sales apparel shop founded by Deanne Brady and Mark Stidham, and anyone who has kept an active Facebook account in the years since has certainly browsed through its demise.
The willingness of the company’s creators to participate is what makes LuLaRich binge-worthy. Their tale begins with some dubious bootleg mythology. Deanne and Mark had previously been married and had too many children to count, some of whom were adopted, and two of whom married each other (in one of the show’s more bizarre discoveries).
In LuLaRich, self-delusion is a significant subject. Because the Stidhams’ interview is interspersed with depositions, it’s clear that they’re trying to avoid incriminating themselves. To think they’ve bought into their illusion would be to absolve them of crime, but the Stidhams are so upbeat and self-assured that one has to question.
According to an MLM specialist, more than 80% of those who join schemes like LuLaRoe have no one beneath them in the pyramid, and the experience can be disastrous. For example, women who sold leggings made a profit at best and lost hundreds at worst. They may make up to seven figures selling their belongings, especially during the zenith of the LuLaRoe craze. Some in the upper echelon came to terms with their engagement being predatory, while others continue to see themselves as the Stidhams did: as people who just hustled and made money.
If it hadn’t been for the convergence of various cultural phenomena and failures, the LuLaRoe debacle would not have occurred. The rise of social media, the prevalence of consumer culture, the proliferation of MLMs, and the weak enforcement of regulations that were supposed to keep them in check all seemed to work against these women as they fought to find community and attain a happy middle-class life. Sisterhood and social media, on the other hand, were a lifeline. LuLaRoe is still in business today.
