Brandy Melville, one of the most popular one-size brands, is an Italian clothing and fashion accessories brand, marketing their products to teenage girls and young women. When asking a teenage girl her favorite clothing brand, hearing ‘Brandy Melville’ is a common answer, especially in the Gen-Z era. However, beyond the trendy clothing and cool girl image the brand portrays, is a far more deep-rooted problem that Brandy perpetuates around body image and lacking inclusivity. 

Brandy Melville’s ‘one size’ policy- with the size being a small could be seen as extremely damaging to its target market of young women. After just seconds of research, you can find thousands of videos about girls complaining about the sizing and even going to lengths to loose weight to fit into their clothing. The brand presents itself as inclusive but anyone scrolling on their website or social medias can quickly see that it only caters to tall, skinny, and flat-chested girls. The lack of diversity could suggest Brandy Melville’s, clear discrimination of body types that they consider ‘unfit’ for their clothing and brand image. It could also has a profound impact on their target market: teenage girls. With the increasing popularity of Brandy Melville comes pressure to fit the ‘ideal Brandy Melville body.’ To achieve this many could resort to extreme dieting and exercise or even skipping meals. This can lead to eating disorders and mental health issues, the most common age to struggle with eating disorders is between 12-25, and with self-image and esteem already being an issue for teens, we believe ideology is harmful. 

Another unique aspect of Brandy Melville is their hiring process, the brand has been accused of only hiring you if your skinny and conventionally pretty. Which continues to prove their outdated policies and ideologies they want to project. Despite how unethical this is, its a smart move on Brandys behalf, not only do their workers represent their cool and effortlessly pretty Brandy girl image, but they also use the workers to model the clothing for the website, which saves the company money. 

After the brand exploded with popularity in the mid-2000s, Brandy Melville’s clothing has been increasingly in demand. Their simplistic and trendy clothing changes with the fast fashion cycles to keep relevant, and despite the huge controversies the brand is still increasingly popular with their sales peaking at nearly $67 million in 2019. Arguably its because going into the store and fitting into the clothing can feel so rewarding because you can feel a part of an exclusive club. When you buy from Brandy, you’re also buying into the desirable image that the brand reflects, but for those don’t fit into the clothes, It could make them want to change so that they can fit in- literally. 

It’s important to remember that there isn’t anything wrong with having a skinny body type. The issue here is that this is the only body type that Brandy Melville wants to use to market their clothing. Other stores are guilty of having this same policy as Abercrombie and Victoria Secret. However, these brands now have great diversity and a wide range of sizing. Instead of offering more sizes Brandy sells the aesthetic of being skinny, and sadly despite the controversy- it works.