Peloton Closet, the popular Peloton community for finding apparel worn by instructors, has shut down after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Peloton.
Peloton Closet was dedicated to helping the Peloton community find out where the instructor’s outfits came from during each workout class. Most instructors wear Peloton apparel, but they often wear unlabeled third-party apparel as well.
Peloton Closet also has an active Facebook page that’s still available if you want to see the type of content it posted. As of this post, the website has made private.
On the latest episode of The Clip Out podcast, Torrey from Peloton discussed how the whole situation panned out. She said Peloton was very kind in their letter and recognized her passion for the brand, but she had taken it a bit too far. She was using the intellectual property to funnel people to non-Peloton apparel brands. She said she was fully aware when she started the project that she was using Peloton’s intellectual property. She didn’t initially start out using affiliate links, but even after she did, she only had earned $400 in affiliate links.
CTW’s Take
As frustrating as this is, Peloton had to defend its intellectual property in all circumstances. Peloton’s blog currently offers a way to link to pieces worn by instructors in their photos, so it’s clear they’re thinking about ways to continue to monetize their apparel.
It’s great to hear that Peloton recognized Torrey’s passion for the brand and communicated the news in a polite and kind way. Peloton’s passionate community is a big part of the brand, so it’s smart that even their legal team has the same mind-set.
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