Is Brandy Melville “uncancellable”? Are their “one size fits all” clothes morally wrong or is their brand just “exclusive” to a certain demographic?
Brandy Melville has recently had some controversy around its name. Most of their styles are labeled “one size fits all”, even though they are clearly made for smaller people. Their tops typically fit a range of sizes XS-Medium. Part of the “hype” around this issue is the popularity of Brandy Melvilles styles. Brandy’s whole brand is based on simplistic, stylish, “basics” that are easy to mix and match between different styles.
People of sizes larger than a medium feel left out of the recent trends that Brandy Melville has been setting. The fact that Brandy has become such a popular brand that terms such as “Brandy girl” have surfaced, show how much “hype” Brandy Melville has around its name. References such as these cause peoples feelings of being left out to sting more.
Body positive enthusiasts are also enraged by the unethical morals they believe Brandy Melville is pushing. Many people believe that Brandy has grown big enough where they can begin to grow a bigger audience by becoming more inclusive with their sizes. They argue that Brandy has no real reason to not include bigger sizes, and if anything, adding more sizes would only grow their brand.
Although Brandy Melville has been faced with this criticism, they stay away from making promises or large responses from the backlash. The company alludes to making the company more “inclusive,” but never really follows through with changing their styles or just adding more sizes.
Brandy Melville is known for not advertising their clothing on any social media platforms. Their refusal to use ads or listen to backlash, creates a sort of ‘niche’ around their name. It makes shopping there feel “special” and attracts more customers.
People that argue that Brandy Melville is not being offensive in how they choose to size their clothing add that their brand is “uncancellable.” Brandy’s Melville’s target market is a tall and slim body type. These customers argue that other typical fast fashion brands don’t provide clothing for their height and body type. They say that finding clothing that is long enough to fit their height yet is still slim enough can be difficult to find.
Brandy supporters say that the fact that the style of Brandy’s clothing happened to have taken trend recently is completely unrelated to their sizing. While supporters don’t necessarily support their sizing, they also appreciate Brandy’s ability to cater to their wants.
