Its decision to partner with influencers and celebrities has helped Fashion Nova become the multi-million dollar business that it has grown to be, but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a bone to pick with the mega-corporation. These days, it is difficult to navigate through any social media platform without seeing some mention of Fashion Nova, whether it be an advertisement or photo of one of its dozen brand ambassadors.
Yet, with its popularity have come complaints from the public as fast fashion has been a hot topic in environmental circles. The FTC, however, isn't worried about that just yet, but they have taken issue with Fashion Nova allegedly deleting negative feedback from its customers. It seems the company has been accused of "[supressing] negative reviews of its products," reports Rolling Stone.
The outlet stated that Fashion Nova has incurred a massive fine from the FTC to the tune of $4.2 million.
The complaint alleges Fashion Nova worked with a third-party online product review management platform to suppress shopper product ratings lower than four stars out of five. The brand used the platform to automatically post positive reviews, while holding lower-starred reviews for its later approval, the FTC wrote. From late 2015 through November 2019, however, Fashion Nova failed to post the hundreds of thousands of missives from nonplussed shoppers, depriving other consumers of information that could potentially impact their purchasing decisions, and artificially inflating product ratings.
“Deceptive review practices cheat consumers, undercut honest businesses, and pollute online commerce,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, reportedly said. “Fashion Nova is being held accountable for these practices, and other firms should take note.”
Fashion Nova isn't the only company on the FTC's radar, either. They reportedly have a handful of others "using similar review management services," and this has caused many retailers to mind their Ps and Qs. The FTC hopes that in the future, businesses will stray from alleged devious practices that keep potential consumers from warnings of e-commerce products.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Fashion Nova vehemently denies that the company engaged in any unlawful activities.
“The Federal Trade Commission’s allegations against Fashion Nova are inaccurate and deceptive,” the spokesperson told Sourcing Journal. “Fashion Nova never suppressed any website reviews, and it immediately and voluntarily addressed the website review issues when it became aware of them in 2019.”
“Fashion Nova continues to be an entrepreneurial-led company," the spokesperson said. "[Fashion Nova is] solely focused on providing a great assortment of fashionable clothes at very affordable prices.”