Brandy Melville (Brandy) designs clothes for the thins and doesn't apologise for it. Brandy has developed a cult-like following among teens and young adults. I can not fathom why the brand is so famous; the designs are basic and not fashion-forward. The brand is known for its girlie and boho vibe; the clothes are tight and short, and Brandy Melville only comes in one size. The brand has been worn by some celebrities such as Kaia Gerber, Kendall Jenner, Emma Chamberlain and Sabrina Carpenter.
Brandy has also been called out for its toxic work practices, racism, sizism, sexual harassment, and contributing to fast fashion. Despite this, the brand remains as popular as ever. I first learned of Brandy's shady business practices in the 2024 HBO documentary 'Brandy Hellville & The Cult Of Fast Fashion'. The documentary exposes the company's inner workings from former employees who reveal the exploitation by Brandy Melville leaders and CEO Stephan Marsan.
The company was overtly racist, taking preference for skinny white girls for hiring, and minorities were often mistreated and sent to the stockroom to work their shifts. Once hired, employees said they were required to send full-body shots of their outfits to Marsan, who kept them in a folder on his phone; some alleged that they were asked to send photos of their chest and feet as well, which Marsen would keep catalogued in secret without the employee's consent.
Brandy employees who received opportunities for lavish business trips to China and Italy were thin and white. Minority employees experienced less progression and opportunities, even if they worked harder. Former staff members also revealed how they felt pressured to stay thin and often developed eating disorders and mental health issues to fit the Brandy girl image. Brandy workers could be fired for gaining weight, and store managers would make up reasons to fire people because higher-ups did not find them attractive enough to work at Brandy.
With all these allegations, Brandy Melville might turn some consumers off. However, the brand continues to have a thriving online community, social media, and stores expanding worldwide.
Brandy Melville has successfully used teen social media creators to promote and spread brand awareness on platforms such as TikTok, Tumblr, and Instagram. The Brandy team often collaborated with young influencers on photography content, design, and styling to feature on the official Brandy Melville Instagram Account. Teen influencers and micro-influencers are often underutilized and underestimated by fashion brands. Teen influencers understand what is popular and how to wear Brandy because they are the brand's target audience.
User-generated content is king when it comes to marketing. As social media consumers, we can trust influencers more than brands who create their in-house marketing and social media campaigns. Brandy Melville is famous worldwide thanks to its strategy of engaging with younger audiences and social media influencers. Brandy has cultivated widely popular online communities on Reddit, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. The most popular posts are haul videos that encourage users to participate in fast fashion and trend cycles, which ultimately leads to overconsumption and clothes being thrown out.
Brandy Melville is most famous for its tagline, 'one size fits most,' which damages impressionable young girls who equate fitting into tight pants with belonging to an exclusive club. Brandy Melville's divisive tactic of not following the body positivity trend and not offering plus-size differentiates it from the rest of its competitors.
Brandy's one-size-fits-all strategy is clever and cruel. Brandy makes users feel socially superior because they can fit into tiny clothes. Fitting into the clothes makes you feel you are part of some exclusive club, where the condition of entry is having a straight size and skinny body type. Brandy's exclusivity is what makes the brand so popular.
When you establish conditions of entry and limit who can access the product, you make the consumer want it or value it even more, as not everyone can have it. For example, what makes designer brands popular is not the quality; it's status, which comes from the price you pay for that brand status; the exclusivity is that not everyone can afford to spend that much on a designer item.
What Brandy Melville is doing fashion-wise is not cutting-edge or revolutionary; it is just a youth fast-fashion brand with a brilliant marketing strategy.
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