Market has accused Sweetgreen of stealing an idea that it pitched them for a collaboration.
Sweetgreen recently posted a picture of its new Kale Camo Hoodie that it made in collaboration with the brand Everybody World. Soon after it shared the new release, Market hopped on Instagram to inform everyone where the idea allegedly came from first.
“We pitched Sweetgreen a collab idea and they just ended up stealing it,” wrote Market in a post.
Market also shared a screenshot of an alleged email with founder Nathaniel Ru detailing a “custom camouflage pattern” for a collaborative collection. The message also appears to present a link for additional concepts for the potential collaboration.
“Pitching this wild idea for a Kale camo sweatsuit back in September of 2023,” wrote Market in another slide of the carousel post. The company then shared a picture of what appears to be the slides from their proposed collab, which looks remarkably similar to the recent Sweetgreen release.
“After presenting to Sweetgreen we never heard back,” said Market. “And then today they announced an interesting collaboration.”
“For a company that does almost $700 million in sales, you can afford to do the right thing and not steal our ideas without compensation,” continued Market — then signaling out a comment that Sweetgreen wrote on their Instagram account suggesting that they thought up the collaboration themselves.
As of this writing, Sweetgreen has yet to respond publicly.
In 2023, Chipotle filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Sweetgreen over the addition of the Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl to its menu. The lawsuit claims Sweetgreen ignored a cease-and-desist letter and a phone call from Chipotle’s legal team. Chipotle suggested minor name changes, like referring to the item as a “chicken bowl with chipotle,” to better describe the ingredients.
