I’m sure some/many of you are tired of hearing about Oiselle and Kelly Roberts. I feel that I started this ball rolling, that I need to give space on the site for responses and additional statements.
I will continue to share relevant updates.
The Banditing Discussion
One positive that came from this story is further discussion and acknowledgement of what it is to bandit a race, and furthering the knowledge that even running just a portion of a race without authorization is not acceptable.
It Is Never, Ever Okay to Run a Race You Didn’t Pay For
Kelly claims that she did not know that it was not OK to pace a friend or run a portion of the course without competing. Looking at comments on the Runner’s World article, there are runners that seem to think that running on a closed course is not a big deal. I think Kelly should have known that this was not acceptable given her status in the running community for the past 3 years.
Oiselle
Oiselle CEO Sally Bergesen issued a post regarding the situation.
WHY WE SPONSOR KELLY ROBERTS
She did address questions that I have been told were being asked by Oiselle team members for months. I asked the questions almost two weeks ago.
The only comment I wish to address in the statement is in regards to the claim of bullying by a member towards Kelly. I’ve copied that portion of Sally’s blog post below:
Bullying by a teammate. Unfortunately, we experienced a situation during the past 3-4 months where a Volée teammate repeatedly defamed and disrespected Kelly via team venues, such as Facebook, Twitter, and our online portal, which caused us to remove her from the Volée. We welcome questions, conversation, and critical feedback, but we have zero tolerance for bullying.
I have not seen evidence of this. There were a couple tweets that I saw where the member questioned Kelly’s status and corrected her reference as elite. While I can see where Oiselle would not want those questions brought up in the way they were publicly, I don’t think what I saw amounted to bullying.
I ask if anyone has direct evidence of this bullying behavior to please forward the information to me privately (and anonymously). I ask the same for anyone that sees what they believe are inappropriate comments on my blog or social media. I do my best to moderate comments, but sometimes things can slip through.
Also, this article was from May gives an in depth look into Oiselle and the Volee program.
Paying to Run with — and for — Oiselle
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i hope Oiselle vetted this statement with its attorneys to make sure into didn’t engage in libel.
Oiselle just demonstrated why 1. They will never be anything more than a fringe brand and 2. Have to have people pay money to be “members” and survive solely on free advertising by these paying members. Other brands gain loyalty by having killer quality (Athleta, champion, under armor, Zella), a great value (champion, fabletics, old navy), sustainability and eco friendly (Patagonia and PrAna), and/or unique R&D and designs (lululemon, AloYoga, Nux). From what I’ve personally experienced in their roga shorts, they possess none of these attributes. Add in an indignant, patronizing, and myopic president/board of directors, I can’t see how they’re in business without those fees to have the privilege of shilling their brand. Add in the obnoxious holier than thou antics towards rival brands (to the point of slander in my opinion), in light of their own heinous bullying and behavior to equate gender inequality on par with race fee theft #fightthepower misguided statements…. done son
It is unfortunate that people will pay to be associated with a brand. Add to the mix of wearing gear, looking “elite” or sponsorship – Oiselle has capitalized on runners wanting to stand out and feel like they belong somewhere. I can only hope ALL runners have taken a step back and evaluate ourselves and associations. I for one, won’t take or buy their gear. I will never support their antics and insults to the community that supports them.
PS, just noticed Ashley Graham in on the cover of Glamour, blocked by miss #feminismrunner herself. Now there is a true body pioneer, busting her hump to change an industry through hard work and true discrimination.
I was thinking about Ashley the other day. From what I have been told by people in the industry, she is professional, kinda, and a true pioneer. That is a person who inspires me to great things and I am not inspired by her body size but her persona.
Do you follow Kelly on social media? She put several screenshots on her instagram stories of people emailing her hate calling her a fat pig and much much worse.
I did not see her Instagram stories. I don’t believe that the one you are referring to is still up. I saw the email she posted yesterday and referred to in her podcast. Completely inappropriate to email her like that.
Oh my god, let this drop! This is your 4th post about this girl, move on.
Again, I posted to put Oiselle’s statement. Had I ignored their statement regarding Kelly, I would be accused of being biased.
He had an obligation to post the response to show all sides. As he said, he could of easily ignored the statement. He did not.
Allie, the issue at this point is not so much about Kelly — if you’re paying attention, you would realize this — it’s about Oiselle and their utter lack of transparency.
Derek is reporting because the story is continuing, and he’s sticking to the FACTS.
What a lame job, hating on Kelly just to attract clicks and spare change.
You must live in your car.
He might live in his car, be pursuing lame jobs such as this one, be “hating” on Kelly and be attracting clicks for spare change, so what? He’s still right.
“Hating” is the verb generally used by people who won’t / can’t provide anything useful to a debate.
Explain why Derek is wrong to highlight this or spend your time elsewhere.
did she accept a medal? the roads are NOT exclusive to runners in many city road races. even if you try your best to convince yourself that this is a misdemeanor, there is no legal basis here and nothing will come of it in court… sure, there are ethical obligations to not participate in a paid for-event, but she is not doing anything criminal. at best this is a reach so why publicly shame a person over this?
also i think its hilarious seeing all of these posts saying “I THINK I’LL NOW JUST SUPPORT LULULEMON”.. without even recognizing any of the faults of that company. lol.
At this point, we are just beating a dead horse. I argue that she at the very least should have known that she was wrong. She now does know. Much of the backlash is against Oiselle for their employee’s initial stance on banditing and their initial lack of transparency to their members regarding Kelly. It is relevant because there are 1000’s of members that pay for the privlege, and they should be able to ask and get answers to their questions.
Kelly Roberts is annoying
Running with a friend for a short distance, especially if you don’t use water stations, etc., is NOT banditing.
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