Is ZYIA Active an MLM? Read Before Joining -

ZYIA is an MLM (multi-level marketing) company that sells activewear. However, before buying ZYIA products or joining as one of their sales representatives, read on to learn more about the company.

As a reminder, I have an MBA, I am a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), and have almost 15 years working in finance and accounting. These are my opinions based on researched facts and my understanding of those facts. However, this is not legal, financial, or tax advice. If you need legal, financial, or tax advice, you should reach out to a professional for a 1:1 chat! All opinions are my own.

This site is a participant in the Amazon Associates program, as well as other affiliate programs. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This post may contain some affiliate links for your convenience.

To jump directly to the PDF of the compensation plan and income disclosure click here.

What is ZYIA Active?

ZYIA is a network marketing company aka a multi-level marketing company (MLM) that sells ZYIA activewear. The majority of their activewear is manufactured in China.

ZYIA Active was founded in 2017 by four cofounders: Erin Bradley, Jeremiah Bradley, Brenda Bradley and Zach Bradley. According to Jermiah’s public Facebook previously worked for a multi-level marketing called Agel Enterprises until 2016. This is about the time that Agel Enterprises appears to have shut down their website as their owner went through bankruptcy.

ZYIA is primarily known for selling leggings, but they also sell bras, jumpsuits, shirts and much more. They also sell clothes for men.

What is an MLM?

A multi-level marketing or MLM company is a company that utilizes a direct sales company model. This means, instead of selling their products in a store, they sell the products through their ZYIA representatives. However, the majority of people in MLMs do not make money from selling products. They make the majority of their money from recruiting others under them. Often times individuals will be recruited to MLMs as people claiming it is an exciting business opportunity.

Learn more about single level vs. multi-level marketing here.

How Much do ZYIA Leggings Cost?

ZYIA leggings seem to run at about $70 on average. After reviewing their website they had options that were about $59, but the majority sat around the $70 mark.

How does this compare? You’ll have to judge for yourself. However, I did do a search on Amazon and found a lot of highly reviewed leggings for a fraction of the price. However, I did discover that “Love Her” brand leggings share the same manufacturer as ZYIA, read on for more info on that.

For a full list of income disclosure statements, I’ve collected on multi-level marketing companies – click here.

ZYIA vs. Love Her Brand

According to a Facebook post where the company “Love Her” stated they share the same manufacturer as ZYIA. The Love Her brand of leggings starts about $35 and according to a lot of Facebook posts, seem to be about the same quality.

Quickly looking through I can see the similarities between these two brands. In fact, I even found a Reddit post where a sales rep found out about this and was completely shocked and stated she was going to resign.

ZYIA Active Reviews

To write this article, I went searching deep into the internet gathering information, here is what I found.

ZYIA has a very low score on the Better Business Bureau (BBB). There are many complaints about not being able to get in touch with customer service for refunds. After reaching out to the BBB it appears they did get their issues resolved. However, in my opinion, a business should have systems in place to resolve customer issues without them having to reach out to the BBB. There will always be individuals who go to BBB though.
A former ZYIA rep wrote a detailed review on her experience selling the product, which is consistent with what I’ve found on the BBB as well as my general knowledge of MLMs. In short, this rep didn’t make any money and had concerns over the products consistency in quality and sizing as well as pricing. Go read her full review here and see what active wear brands she suggests at the end of her post.
TruthInAdvertising.org has an article about how despite it being against ZYIA’s policy and procedures, they have representatives making income claims to recruit others into the business. In my opinion this isn’t surprising or shocking, as most MLMs do this which is why I personally find them unethical.

How much does it cost to start ZYIA?

As of August 2023, there are several different starter kit levels offered for both men and women. To join ZYIA, at a minimum you will pay at least $147 (plus shipping and taxes) for the mini starter kit. The different options that are offered are:

Mini Starter Kits – $147 (plus tax and shipping). This includes 4 pieces of ZYIA activewear and a $50 gift card
Start Kit – $295 (plus tax and shipping). This includes 8 pieces of activewear and a $100 gift card
Deluxe Starter Kit – $600 (plus tax and shipping). This includes 19 pieces of activewear and a $100 gift card.

Each starter kit has two options for women and one option for men.

What is the Monthly Minimum for ZYIA?

There are a two different minimums you need to take into account for ZYIA.

To earn commissions for the month, you need to have at least 200 personal sales volume (PV) for that month. This is in section 18.1 of their policies and procedures.
For the 6-month period ending June 30 and December 31, each representative must have 300 PV minimum, or they can have their agreement with ZYIA terminated (aka, you get fired). You are exempt from this requirement when you initially join but must meet this minimum for the next 6-months. This is in section 4.2 of their policies and procedures.
According to this website if you do not reach $600 per month in sales, you will need to pay $15 to cover the costs of your website. The owner of that website appears to be an active ZYIA rep.

How do ZYIA Reps Make Money?

ZYIA reps make money in two ways, selling products and recruiting a team.

First, commissions are earned off selling products. This includes selling products to family and friends, hosting parties, marketing to your social media networks or even selling at fairs.
Second, the larger the team that is recruited the reps will earn. The bigger the downline the easier it is to rank up and earn additional commissions. In order to earn the most money and bonuses, recruiting is required.

How Much Money do ZYIA Reps Make?

The company does not publish and income disclosure statement. I did request one, but I don’t expect to hear back.

After reviewing many different MLMs, it is my opinion that it is extremely likely that the majority of people make no money. We can look at their compensation plan. This is a typical MLM, where to rank up you need to recruit. You can tell this because in order to get to the second tier of Junior Representative, you have to have 1st level volume. This means you have already recruited someone under you to start selling (or buying for themselves and you earn commissions off that).

They have a short video and they spell it out directly for you, the more people you recruit, the more money you make.

There is a lot of talk about discounts when you join ZYIA, so what kind of discount do reps get?

ZYIA Active Return Policy

Another common criticism I found while searching the internet for information on ZYIA was a lot of people unhappy about their return policy. You have 30 days to return (which is standard) but have to pay shipping and a restock fee to return your item. Therefore, if you’re influenced to purchase the product and find the quality to not meet your standards for the price, you’ll still be out some money just to return them.

Is ZYIA Active a Pyramid Scheme?

Currently, MLMs seem to be in a legal loophole and not being recognized as pyramid schemes. Pyramid schemes are defined as: a form of investment (illegal in the US and elsewhere) in which each paying participant recruits two further participants, with returns being given to early participants using money contributed by later ones.

So multi-level marketing companies don’t meet this exact definition, however, in my opinion, they feel pretty similar.

The FTC even warns they can be hard to differentiate. Multi-Level Marketing Businesses and Pyramid Schemes | Consumer Advice (ftc.gov)

My Opinion: You Should be Skeptical of Network Marketing/MLMs

Network marketing also known as multi-level marketing (MLM) is something you should have a healthy skepticism of (and in my opinion avoid). There are people who are very successful in this industry, but it is the minority. Let’s talk about some of those things:

The majority of people who get involved with MLMs lose money.

This has been proven time and time again by reviewing income disclosure statements and this study that was published by the FTC.

This study is a little dated, however, I have reviewed many Income Disclosure Statements and find that the results are still valid. See all the Income Disclosure Statements I’ve reviewed here.

Uplines Make Money Off Downlines Losses

The way multi-level marketing and network marketing businesses are structured is that those in the upline make money off the sales of those in the downline. Oftentimes, MLMs require a certain amount of personal volume (PV) to stay active in the company. This results in consultants spending money to buy products to remain active. This results in them losing more money while their uplines earn commissions off those “sales”.

Lack of Transparency in Where Sales Come From

Currently, MLMs are not required to produce any reporting that identifies how much of their sales come from customers or from those involved with the “business”. This makes it very difficult to establish where the line falls between MLMs and Pyramid Schemes

The FTC warns that MLMs and Pyramid Schemes can look very similar.

The FTC has an entire article (click here to read) on its website that has a lot of great resources, including questions to ask someone who is looking to recruit you.

Many network marketers will argue their MLM isn’t a pyramid scheme because pyramid schemes are illegal. However, illegal things happen every day until people are caught. I would not give this any merit.

MLMs are NOT Residual Income

When being recruited, I often see MLMs being promoted as residual income. According to Investopedia: Residual income is the money that continues to flow after an initial investment of time and resources has been completed. Examples of residual income include artist royalties, rental income, interest income, and dividend payments.

However, in all MLMs there are monthly minimums you need to remain active. Therefore, the income does not meet the definition of resiudal income. In addition, ZYIA even has requirements that once you hit senior director, you are required to answer any questions from your downline timely. This is not residual, as there are active requirements to sell and then additional requirements of their leadership teams as they rank up. This is not residual in anyway.

MLMs are NOT Affiliate Marketing

Another common recruiting tactic is that MLMs are like affiliate marketing. This has some truth but is misleading. Affiliate marketing is when you work with a company (and you can work with multiple companies at a time) and earn commissions off referrals. I am an Amazon affiliate and if you click my link and purchasing something, I get a small commission. However, there is never any pressure for me to recruit anyone else to join Amazon as an affiliate. I’ve never been offered any bonuses to recruit anyone. There will ALWAYS be motivation for your upline in a MLM to encourage you to recruit. The bigger the team, the more money those at the top make. To reach the top of the compensation plan and earn the most income you will need to recruit, which is not how affiliate marketing works.

Resources to Learn About Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)

AARP Study of Multilevel Marketing
Multi-Level Marketing Businesses and Pyramid Schemes | Consumer Advice (ftc.gov)
ZYIA former reps debrief in this Reddit thread Former Zyia Reps? : antiMLM (reddit.com)

ZYIA Compensation Plan

ZYIA includes their compensation plan on their website. I have also taken a PDF as of August 2023 in case they change their website.

They have a video right on their website that spells it out at 1:16. “The more people, the more you get paid” – meaning, to make money you need to focus on recruiting, not on selling.

ZYIA-Compensation-Plan-August-2023 Download

ZYIA Income Disclosure

How much do ZYIA representatives make? Well, ZYIA does not publish an income disclosure statement, so there is no way to know. I did reach out to them directly to see if they have one they would send, but I have done this many times to many companies, so I do not expect them to respond.

Is ZYIA Active an MLM? Read Before Joining