Like almost every other girl at Miramonte, I shop at Brandy Melville. I love playing mix-and-match with their basics, or adding an extra touch to my outfit with their dainty gold jewelry. However, behind the cute tank tops and low-rise cargo jeans lie deep ethical issues in the brand.
Founded in Italy in the ’80s, Brandy Melville is mostly known for their 90s-esque style, floral prints, and basics. The brand is also infamous for their “one size” clothing.
Most clothing brands have a variety of sizes for each item they carry. Brandy Melville takes a unique approach, only carrying one size for each clothing piece. It may sound like Brandy Melville is a “one size fits all” brand, but it’s not — it’s just “one size,” that size being small. When teenagers don’t fit into the one size that Brandy Melville carries, it can have detrimental effects on their body image.
“[Brandy Melville’s restrictive sizing] makes young girls feel bad about themselves, and like they aren’t good enough since they can’t wear these certain clothes and don’t ‘fit’ that specific image Brandy Melville presents,” senior Sophia Laliberte said.
Occasionally, they sell “oversized” clothes, which make the store seem inclusive to all body types. However, the size label itself pushes the message that the piece of clothing is meant to fit large and baggy — so, if a size large body fits perfectly into Brandy Melville’s “oversized” clothes, it’s not being worn correctly. Their “oversized” clothing is still catered to petite bodies.
“Brandy Melville promotes the idea that a small size in clothing should fit everyone, or else they are considered overweight, which is extremely damaging to a girl’s body image,” senior Olivia Shin said.
Yes, plus-size and petite-size clothing brands exist — and these brands have every right to cater to specific body types. The problem is that Brandy Mellville does not market themselves as a petite brand; it is only implied as teens scroll through their website and only see size 0-4 models.
Not only does Brandy Melville promote unhealthy body standards, but they also treat their workers unethically.
TikToker Brianna Gomez (@bbriannagomez) shared her story as an ex-employee of four years. In a TikTok, she explained that each Brandy Melville employee was required to take daily outfit photos, one full-body shot and one close-up shot, to be sent to Brandy Melville’s head office. “At the time, as a sales associate, I didn’t know where it was going,” Gomez said in a TikTok.
Gomez explained how the daily process went: workers sent an email with a subject line of the employees full name, job title, and date, followed by the photos and where each item of their outfit was from.
“Looking back, it was so weird that I had to take those photos to begin with,” Gomez said in a TikTok. “If you were feeling insecure that day, not confident, if you weren’t feeling your outfit or your makeup or your hair, taking your picture was actually the worst part of the day.”
Not only were employees required to take outfit photos, but they were also required to take photos of customers’ outfits, as well. According to Gomez, this is how Brandy Melville employees were hired: their photos were sent to Brandy Melville’s head office with their Instagram handle. Later, they were contacted and offered a job position without any resume or interview. “In the New York flagship, an ex-employee said [Brandy Melville’s CEO] installed a red flare at the cash register that he could light up from his in-store mezzanine whenever he spotted a customer whom he wanted photographed and hired,” A Vogue article on the 2024 HBO Brandy Melville documentary reported. Employees are scouted out by other employees solely based on their looks and style.
Brandy Melville’s unethical hiring practices, along with their strange daily photo requirements, push the notion that appearances are more important than job performance.
After all, Brandy Melville is aware of the message they promote to its audience. I am not promoting students to boycott Brandy Melville — the truth is that students, including myself, will continue to be drawn to the low prices and unique style that comes with the brand. It is important, however, to acknowledge the faults in the brand and not internalize the messages that it promotes. Be aware of the harmful impact that Brandy Melville can have on teenage girls, customers, and employees.
