Rent The Runway Sued By Rental Competitor

FashionPass, an apparel rental business founded in 2016, filed a lawsuit Tuesday against competitor Rent the Runway, according to a complaint filed in the superior court of the state of California. The lawsuit alleges that FashionPass has “suffered, and will continue to suffer, damages as a result of Rent the Runway’s monopolistic and anti-competitive conduct.” Rent the Runway did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Retail Dive. The company further alleges that Rent the Runway “devised a scheme to eliminate competition from FashionPass by using coercive tactics to pressure the manufacturers with which FashionPass conducts business, to refuse to sell merchandise to FashionPass.” FashionPass named 20 manufacturers, including labels like The Jetset Diaries, Saylor and ASTR the Label, as having been pressured to sell exclusively to Rent the Runway or lose business altogether. Read more at Retail Dive.