Salad chain Sweetgreen accused of ‘stealing’ clothing brands idea: “Sweetgreed”

Clothing brand Market has accused salad chain Sweetgreen of “stealing” the idea behind their Kale Camo merch line and has receipts to prove it.

Mike Cherman, the founder of the popular clothing brand Market, has accused salad chain Sweetgreen of “stealing” an idea he and his company had previously pitched as a collaboration.

Despite being a salad bar chain, Sweetgreen has also become known for its exclusive merch, the company often dropping a whole new line each year that almost always sells out.

For 2024’s installment, Sweetgreen announced its new Kale Camo clothing line. This collection includes various clothing items, such as hoodies and sweatpants, as well as fresh new hat designs, tote bags, and more. 

“At Sweetgreen, we’re all about creating moments that bring people and communities together,” said Michael Kotick, SVP and Head of Marketing at Sweetgreen.

“This collection captures what fans love about Sweetgreen; we hope it brings joy this holiday season.”

Almost immediately after Sweetgreen announced this new merch collection, Cherman and Market took to Instagram. They claimed they had “pitched Sweetgreen a collab idea, and they just ended up stealing it.”

The Instagram post, which has amassed 23,000 likes in less than a day, far more than Sweetgreen’s own announcement post, includes multiple slides and images explaining the situation.

The clothing brand explained how they initially pitched the “wild idea for a Kale Camo sweatsuit” back in September 2023 but after presenting the collab to Sweetgreen, they “never heard back.”

Sure enough, the Instagram post includes images of their initial pitch and screenshots of an email chain that dates back to September 2023.

In the final slide of the claims, Market slammed Sweetgreen for being a “company that does $700 million in sales” yet decided to “steal [their] ideas without compensation.”

The comments section of Market’s post is flooded with users slamming the salad chain. One commenter called the situation “robbery”, while another added, “Glad you put them on the spot. Not cool.” One user labeled them “Sweetgreed.”

At the time of writing, Sweetgreen has yet to address the accusations that they stole their new Kale Camo collab concept from Market.