Phoebe Burgess sports controversial fashion label
Phoebe Burgess has been seen wearing a Paris-based athleisure wear label which has come under fire after its founder was called out for plagiarism, taking part in Nazi jokes and being an anti-vaxxer.
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Phoebe Burgess has shared an image wearing beleaguered athleisure brand Sporty & Rich. The premium priced brand’s influencer founder Emily Oberg, who is American but based in Paris, found herself in hot water two weeks ago after a podcast she participated in came to light.
In it, Oberg laughed along after hosts made jokes about Hitler and the Nazis, suicide, overweight people and racial issues as well as boasting about her wealth and her anti-vax beliefs.
Since then, Sporty & Rich customers have spoken up with complaints alleging poor quality product, long wait times, rude customer service, fake sustainability and design plagiarism.
A Sporty & Rich T-shirt costs between $80 and $95 while a simple jumper and track pants cost $200 to $250 each.
Australian influencers and models Brooke Hogan, Rozalia Russian and Jade Tuncdoruk all spoke up publicly saying they would no longer be supporting the brand.
Burgess, the ex of South Sydney Rabbitohs great Sam Burgess, posted a photo with daughter Poppy six days ago, wearing a hoodie with the ‘Sporty & Rich’ logo with the caption: “Back to my happy place.”
Several of her followers commented, alerting the mummy blogger to the issues surrounding Sporty & Rich. Burgess, however, was unphased and defended her support of the brand.
A week after her original post, the image remains on her Instagram.
“Have just been alerted to this thank you … I ordered mine a very long time ago — but this is a great example of why consumerism should be considered and well researched,” she replied.
“I’m also aware there are two sides and believe in the right of reply so we must watch this space.”
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Her management said she would not be commenting further on the issue.
Oberg has not publicly apologised for any comments she made on the podcast or for any product issues, but has since promoted a $97 “Anti-racism crash course” on her Instagram.