Fashion Nova faces class action over urgent sale emails

VANCOUVER, Wash. (CN) — A class of shoppers is accusing fast-fashion retail giant Fashion Nova of violating a Washington state law curbing spam emails by sending repeated emails.

According to plaintiff Karina Revenko, Fashion Nova is violating the Commercial Electronic Mail Act by sending emails with subject lines that create a false sense of urgency.

For instance, Revenko claims the company repeatedly sent her and other Washington residents emails telling them sales were ending immediately, but then extended those sales as they were set to expire. Revenko said she has received these emails from Fashion Nova ever since she purchased from the website in 2024.

"The false sense of urgency entices consumers to engage with defendant's marketing with repeated false notifications that there is only a limited time to take advantage of sales-based savings," Revenko wrote in the 21-page complaint.

The Commercial Electronic Mail Act, passed by Washington lawmakers in 1998, bars anyone from sending an email to state residents that "contains false or misleading information in the subject line."

Revenko pointed to a 2022 report from the Federal Trade Commission about digital "dark practices" in online marketing in which companies manipulate users into making choices they otherwise may not have made. The report described false limited-time messages as a "dark practice."

"Fashion Nova frequently engages in sending emails with false or misleading subject lines, particularly emails with false time-limited sales information," Revenko wrote.

For example, Revenko offered an email from Fashion Nova in which the company advertised a sitewide sale and another from hours later with the subject line "!! 40% OFF SITEWIDE IS ENDING!!"

"The 40% off sitewide sale was not, in fact, ending," Revenko wrote. "The very next day, Fashion Nova announced that the sale had been extended, sending an email with a subject line that read: 'EXTENDED 40% Off Sitewide!'"

Similarly, Revenko offered a series of emails from Fashion Nova advertising its Black Friday sales until those same sales were repackaged as Cyber Monday deals.

"Even the 'Cyber Monday' sale did not end on Cyber Monday," Revenko wrote, describing that it was extended by several days. "Fashion Nova has created a false sense of urgency to customers on numerous occasions by acting as if its 'sales' were ending or in its final days and hours, but — as evidenced by the fact that Fashion Nova continually extends these 'sales' knowing that these email subjects would create a false sense of urgency because the sale was actually not ending."

Further, Revenko claims the company knowingly sent the falsely urgent emails to Washington residents based on its retention of their email addresses and access to IP addresses.

"Fashion Nova has knowledge, or at the very least should know, that its emails are being sent to residents of the state of Washington," Revenko wrote.

Revenko seeks to represent all Washington residents who received promotional emails from Fashion Nova with falsely urgent subject lines over the last four years. Washington's anti-spam email law doesn't require that consumers show actual damages — the injury is receiving any email that violates the regulations.

The consumer also accuses the fast-fashion company of violating Washington's Consumer Protection Act, as a violation of the spam email law constitutes a per se violation of the consumer protection law.

Revenko, represented by Emery Reddy, filed the complaint in Clark County Superior Court on Friday.

Neither party responded to a request for comment before press time.