AITA for refusing to let a celebrity wear our clothes for free?
Brand: NoneOfUsOfficial (UK)

Hey Reddit. I’m the co-founder of a small but growing UK-based streetwear brand called NoneOfUsOfficial. We’ve spent the last 3 years building this label from the ground up—independent, no funding, all grit.

A few weeks ago, our social media team got a DM from a well-known US influencer (let’s call her “Lara D”), asking for a “PR package” of our new drop. She has 1.8M followers and is known for styling underground brands before they blow up. Her team said she “LOVES our vibe” and wanted to feature our looks.

We checked out her content—she’s undeniably influential, but we’ve always been against giving out free pieces, especially when we’re still hand-packing orders in a small East London studio. Every item costs us real time, materials, and money. Our drop was very limited.

I respectfully declined. I offered her a friends & creatives discount, which we’ve done for stylists and up-and-comers who genuinely support the scene.

Her manager replied with, “That’s a bit shortsighted. Most brands would jump at the chance for this kind of exposure.”

So I didn’t respond. A few days later, Lara posted a story shading “small brands who gatekeep their own work like it’s couture,” followed by a passive-aggressive TikTok wearing a very similar jacket (not ours) with the caption “support brands who get it.”

Since then, we've had a wave of hate DMs from her fans calling us “arrogant,” “stupid,” and “ungrateful.” But we also had a spike in orders from people saying they respect us for standing our ground.

Now some of our mutuals in the industry are saying we blew a huge opportunity, and I’m being told I let my pride get in the way.