Brandy Melville Documentary
As some know, Brandy Melville is an Italian clothing and fashion accessories brand that primarily markets their products to young women. Brandy Melville controversially makes clothes of only one size (recently labeled as one size fits most) and was founded by Silvio Marsan and established its presence heavily in California.
Brandy Melville one size fits all controversy
On March 11 a documentary called “Brandy Hellville” was released. In this documentary, they discuss the issues around the Instagram-perfect image of Brandy Melville allegedly hiding a toxic work culture, discrimination against race sex, and size, and contribution to fast fashion.
There seems to be very little public information available about the workings of the business.
Documentary highlights
As outlined by a TikTok posted by user @imitationcrab the company began marketing by asking people for their clothing, and if they liked it they would allegedly copy it.
@imitationcrab Will be posting all the parts tonight! #brandymelville #brandyhellville #brandygirl #brandyhellvilleandthecultoffastfashion #fastfashion #documentary
Below are some of the TikToker’s other key points from the video:
A former employee shared in the documentary that they didn’t pay her when they copied the design of her pants but paid a white girl $100 for her shirt. This was just one of the alleged acts of racism that happened within the company.
They would reportedly send girls to visit factories overseas, like China, to see where things were made and would pick out things they would like. The teenage girls were sponsors to go on trips but were getting paid minimum wage for the work that they were doing.
Former employees shared that the job application would include a part that needed them to submit a full body photo, social media handles, questions about their favorite YouTubers, and where they liked to shop. It did not include many questions about their previous work experience.
Employees were asked to take store-style pictures when they worked, the photos were then sent to Stephan and Jesse. They began as just full body but then began to be chest and feet pictures. If they weren’t impressed it potentially resulted in losing your job.
What was even weirder was some registers had a button, if the button turned red it meant that they were expected to take a photo of the customer. Stephan- the CEO- was allegedly watching from the cameras and if he liked what he saw he wanted the customer to then become an employee.
All stores to be closed in Toronto except one, not because they weren’t making money but because the traffic was allegedly too diverse.
Who is the CEO of Brandy Melville?
Stephan Marsan is still currently the CEO.
What are your thoughts on the alleged documentary discoveries?
Published by HOLR Magazine
Image credit @brandymelvilleusa Instagram, @imitationcrab TikTok