I’m boycotting Brandy Melville, and you should too.
Brandy Melville is a trendy Italian brand that sells California-cool clothes. The store looks like the perfect Instagram picture: organized; has a distinct, muted color scheme; and the girls are all tall and thin. The store sells affordable, trendy clothes for teens and young adults, but there’s a catch: it only sells “one size fits most” clothing.
It’s the new Abercrombie and Fitch. It’s made for the “cool kids.” It’s made for the pre-pubescent girls who don’t have boobs, hips or a butt. While some girls like that it’s one size fits most because it makes shopping easier, what they don’t understand is that the clothes do not fit “most.”
Brandy Melville makes me feel bad about myself. I can’t button up the shorts, the dresses are too short or me, I don’t even bother with the skirts, and their jeans would never fit over my thighs. I’m at a normal, healthy weight for someone who is 5’8”. However, I am too big for most things at Brandy Melville.
Studies found that the Brandy Melville sized-clothes are actually a size 0. Yep, you read that correctly. The study also noted that the shirts are stretchy (but made for someone with a 32 A bra size), while the jeans are a size 25 and skirts are 12” to 14” in the waist.
Brandy models, who are becoming famous on Instagram, are all at least 5’7” and have waists that are 25” or smaller. Meanwhile, the average 16-year-old girl in the United States is 5’3” and has a 31” waist, and the average American woman is a size 14, not a size 0.
The “one size fits most” philosophy of Brandy is fueling body dysmorphia. It makes girls feel bad about themselves if they can’t fit into the clothes. The store tells women that they need to be a certain size, when in fact bodies come in all different shapes in sizes, adding to the already high rates of eating disorders among women.
I’m not here to shame any woman with a petite figure or someone who happens to be tall and thin. You’re beautiful but the problem is that your body type isn’t the majority. It’s physically unrealistic for a majority of American girls.
I’m not just boycotting Brandy Melville just because I, and a majority of women, can’t fit into their clothes. I’m also boycotting because of the poor customer service. I can’t stand Brandy employees. First, I can barely find them because they blend in and often look 12. Secondly, they’re not helpful. I asked about a pair of denim shorts once.
“Are these one size fits all?” I ask.
“Yeah,” a bored employee replies
“Are you sure?” I ask again. “I thought I saw a size small tag. Are there medium and larges?”
“Oh.”
Now I’ve been lied to.
“Do you have a size large?” I try again.
“We don’t sell size large.”
That stung. They don’t “sell size large.” I go to the website. They do sell a size large of the denim shorts online, but yet I’ve been lied to the store. Maybe they weren’t intending to lie, perhaps it was a misunderstanding. That doesn’t change the fact that the employees are undertrained and uneducated about the brand and the website. Not to mention unhelpful.
I read an article that Brandy hires girls based on their look, similar to how Abercrombie and Hollister function, which makes sense why the girls aren’t the most qualified. Just because someone is pretty doesn’t mean they know the first thing about customer service.
I still own Brandy clothes. I have a tank top that I love, an overpriced flannel and pajama pants. I’m not going to throw them away, but I can no longer support a company that prides itself on being exclusive.
If this didn’t persuade you enough, just know that the company also steals artists’ work without consent and puts it on their t-shirts.
I love that Brandy clothes are soft and affordable, but what I can’t stand to support is the exclusiveness of the brand.
