Denim microshorts, crop top tank top and message tee-shirt. At the start of the 2010s, these three fashion pieces were accumulating in the wardrobes of young American girls. The vast majority were from Brandy Melville, a brand well known to teenage girls. But in this month of April 2024, a turnaround: the label finds itself in turmoil following the release of the documentary
Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion
(Melville is here replaced by Hellville, the term “hell” meaning “hell”). » in English) on HBO. Signed by director Eva Orner, the film presents the investigation by journalist Kate Taylor into the operating system of the clothing brand, particularly pointing out the problem surrounding “one size fits all”, this strategy used by Brandy Melville supposed to offer clothing for the greatest number of people. Except that the measurements submitted for sale do not exceed size 38 (M).
The Brandy Melville style
In images, in pictures
See the slideshow10 photos
See the slideshow10 photos
The “one size fits all” problem
According to former employees interviewed during the investigation, this “one size” seems to suit only the thinnest girls. In the 2010s, a time when the cult of thinness was rife in the fashion industry, Brandy Melville's “one size” went rather unnoticed. It was mainly due to the fashion effect, even more so with the emergence of Tumblr, a favorite social network for adolescents in the early 2010s, where thinness was glorified through photos and videos. Except that in 2024, the clothing industry has democratized the notion of inclusiveness: in this vein, Brandy Melville's “one size fits all” issue is no longer popular. On social networks, many are now turning the marketing strategy into ridicule. This is the case of content creator Liat Hackmann: in a TikTok, she makes fun of the label's “one size fits all”, proving that her measurements do not allow her to fit into her clothes.
@leehackmann
#tallgirlproblems #tallgirls #brandymelville #brandyhaul
Crazy in Love - Beyonce,Jay-Z
This “one size” therefore definitely does not adapt to all body types, and amounts to excluding a large majority of the female public. Which is not without risk, as the Modart International fashion school website points out: “The risk is to increase complexes linked to weight and body shape, especially since these brands have a young audience. In fact, the number of calls for boycotts of the Brandy Melville brand has exploded on social networks. The trend that the brand wanted to launch was considered exclusionary by a large number of consumers.” Internationally as in France, and for years, we have been protesting for more inclusiveness at Brandy Melville. Notably through the hashtag #BoycottBrandyMelville active on X (formerly Twitter), created in 2015. But the controversy goes further than a waistline.
Racist practices, sexism...
In 91 minutes, journalist Kate Taylor offers another image of Brandy Melville, beyond clothing. We learn in the documentary that CEO Stephan Marsan used to ask customers to send photos from certain angles so they could be republished on the brand's account. Franco Sorgi, former owner of 11 Brandy Melville stores, already painted an unfavorable portrait of the CEO during a 2021 interview with
Business Insider
: “Everyone laughed at his stupidest jokes, even if he wasn't funny. Everyone was licking his ass. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that people were posting salacious things in the "chat" just to please him..." The documentary also deals with this "chat", an online discussion space called "Brandy Melville gags”: several former employees report that Stephan Marsan sent anti-Semitic, racist and sexist memes and texts there.
She remembers one drink, a second, then she doesn't remember anything. She wakes up the next morning in the apartment, naked with this man.
Kate Taylor in the documentary “Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion” (2024)
Kate Taylor also focuses on a sexual assault that occurred on a Brandy Melville employee. The victim, a 21-year-old woman on a visa in the United States, needed a place to stay temporarily. She tells the journalist that to her greatest surprise, an employee of Brandy Melville offers to accommodate her at the “Brandy Apartment”, a place in Soho reserved for a privileged few. “He’s dating this 21-year-old woman. She remembers one drink, a second, then she doesn't remember anything. She wakes up the next morning in the apartment, naked with this man,” says Kate Taylor.
Another dark point revealed in the documentary: the recruitment system, which is very problematic. Several sources point to discriminatory hiring, like
Business Insider
in 2021. To be able to work for the brand, the young girls had to be white, thin and slender. Racialized employees generally worked in the basements. Two actions containing “serious allegations of racism” were filed in court according to former employees speaking in the documentary. Allegations which have all been denied by the company. “When I saw him wearing a Hitler outfit, I wasn't surprised,” a former shop owner goes so far as to say in the documentary.
Still popular
The fact remains that this is obviously not enough to stop the frenzy around this brand, if its growing figures are to be believed. The
Wall Street Journal
reports that Brandy Melville “owns 41 of its approximately 50 U.S. stores, according to Neil Saunders, managing director of research firm GlobalData.” According to the same expert, annual sales totaled $212.5 million in 2023 compared to $169.6 million in 2019. On social networks, the brand has 105,000 subscribers on TikTok, a platform on which young girls are still many to promote his clothes. Going so far as to ask for petitions for the brand to reduce the size of its pieces even further...