Brandy Melville

Last updated
Brandy Melville
Industry Fashion
FoundersSilvio Marsan
Number of locations
133
Key people
  • Stephan Marsan (CEO)
  • Salvatore Rianna (CFO)
ProductsApparel
Website Official website

Brandy Melville is an Italian clothing brand that markets fast fashion and accessories to teenage girls and young women. Though the company was established in Italy by Silvio Marsan, Brandy Melville gained international popularity by pivoting to a California-based style and American consumers. [1] The retailer controversially makes clothes of only one size, and its reclusive leadership has faced numerous accusations of persistent bigotry and discrimination. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

The company's products are sold in physical stores across the world, including Europe, the United States, Asia, Canada, and Australia, as well as on the Brandy Melville website. [5]

History

Silvio Marsan and his son Stefan founded Brandy Melville in Italy in the early 1980s, and opened their first US store in 2009, in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, which borders the UCLA campus. [1] The brand name and logo was inspired by the fictional tale of two people – Brandy, an American girl, and Melville, an Englishman, who met and fell in love. [6] The business grew popular among young girls, in part due to their Malibu teen aesthetic. [1] The Brandy Melville Instagram page has over 3.1 million followers as of April 2024. [7] The store's aesthetics feature a bleached wood theme and muted color palette. [8]

John Galt

Brandy Melville features their sub-brand, John Galt, or J. Galt in their stores. The label stems from a character in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged , which references CEO Stefan Marsan's interest in Libertarianism. [9]

Market and target demographic

Brandy Melville has been described as trend-setting, relevant, cool, and fast fashion, and their most prominent buyers are young teen girls looking for trendy fashion from popular name brands. Girls find brands like Brandy Melville to fall under the "coquette" category. [10] Brandy Melville has a strong presence on social media platforms, especially Instagram, where they showcase their latest designs and connect with their audience. [11] In 2014, according to Piper Jaffray's semiannual report on teen spending, Brandy Melville took the number one spot for up-trending brands that year. [12] Brandy Melville's product research team consists of teenage employees, starting at age 14, [8] who attempt to keep the company's styles contemporary and on trend. Kjerstin Skorge, a Brandy Melville employee at the company's Santa Monica location, discusses employee involvement regarding trending styles. Skorge goes on to say the following, "There are all kinds of things that we get asked, and we give our honest opinion." Brandy Melville relies on the opinions and advice of their employees as they are a part of their target audience. [13]

The company does not use traditional advertising techniques and instead depends heavily on social media marketing and partnerships. Ariana Grande, alongside other famous figures, wears Brandy Melville, aiding in the promotion of the brand. Well-known stores, such as PacSun and Nordstrom, sell Brandy Melville products, furthering the promotion of Brandy Melville. [14] There is very little evidence of Brandy Melville representatives speaking on record, rarely any promotional press, and there has been a rumor that the employees are not allowed to discuss the company history or the identity of the CEO with anyone. [15]

Controversies

Brandy Melville has faced considerable backlash for how its "one-size" policy narrowly promotes a skinny aesthetic and that it predominantly limits hiring to girls who can fit into its clothes. [16] In response, a social media manager for the brand pushed back, stating "it’s not just these skinny white girls like many people think it is," claiming that there "is something for everyone," and argued that it’s more economical to produce only one size of each item. [17]

According to a former store owner, CEO Stephan Marsan expressed that he didn't want black people shopping or working out front at Brandy Melville stores as it would hurt the brand. [18] Marsan and Brandy Melville’s top executives routinely shared jokes about Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust in a group chat titled "Brandy Melville gags." Hitler was reportedly mentioned 24 times in 150 message screenshots reviewed by Insider , including one image that showed Marsan's head photoshopped onto Hitler's body—an image he allegedly created himself. [19]

The 2024 documentary film Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion detailed extensive allegations of bigotry and body shaming at Brandy Melville; these included claims that that white employees were more likely than others to be assigned roles in the front of the store, that Marsan collected full-body photos of his young female employees, a sexual assault that happened at a New York City apartment controlled by the company, and that hiring and firing decisions were explicitly made based on the appearance of employees, among others. The film also discussed the brand's fast fashion status. [20] [21] [22]

Operations and franchises

As of January 2021, Brandy Melville has 97 locations in various countries, with 40 locations in the US. [5]

Locations worldwide:

RegionNumber of locations
Asia (Japan, Indonesia, China (Shanghai, Beijing) and Hong Kong)7
Australia (Sydney, Melbourne)2
Canada (British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec)3
Europe (excluding UK)60
Austria (Vienna)1
Belgium1
France (Paris + Lyon)3
Germany (closing)5
Italy20
Netherlands2
Norway (Oslo)1
Portugal (Lisbon)2
Spain6
Switzerland15
United Kingdom (London)8
United States40
Sweden (Stockholm)1

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Schneider, Katy (October 3, 2019). "The Secret Shame of Wearing Brandy Melville". New York Magazine- The Cut.
  2. ↑ "Brandy Melville faces allegations of racism and body-shaming by former employees". TODAY.com. 12 June 2020. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  3. ↑ Taylor, Kate (2021). "Brandy Melville's CEO doesn't want Black people to wear the brand's clothing, according to an ex-store owner". businessinsider.com. Archived from the original on 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  4. ↑ Olding, Jamie Ross (7 September 2021). "No One Fat, No One Black, and Worse: The Brandy Melville Exposé's Most Batshit Bits". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  5. 1 2 "Brandy Melville UK".
  6. ↑ Scofield, Caitlin (November 9, 2009). "New clothing store Brandy Melville brings Italian style straight to Westwood". Daily Bruin.
  7. ↑ "brandymelvilleusa". Instagram.
  8. 1 2 Rubin, Julia (September 24, 2014). "Smells Like Teen Spirit: Inside the Secretive World of Brandy Melville". Racked.
  9. ↑ Taylor, Kate. "Brandy Melville's CEO loves libertarianism so much he named one of his brands John Galt and used copies of 'Atlas Shrugged' as store props". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  10. ↑ Petersen, Hayley (October 7, 2014). "Here's How Teens Really Spend Money, What They Like, And Where They Shop". Business Insider.
  11. ↑ Feng, Yiqian (6 June 2022). "Brandy Melville: Love it or Hate it?". Medium. Retrieved Jun 6, 2022.
  12. ↑ Petersen, Hayley (October 7, 2014). "Here's How Teens Really Spend Money, What They Like, And Where They Shop". Business Insider.
  13. ↑ Rubin, Julia (2014-09-24). "Smells Like Teen Spirit: Inside the Secretive World of Brandy Melville". Racked. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  14. ↑ "Brandy Melville - The Secret Shame - Global Brands Magazine". 2020-09-15. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  15. ↑ Vanslette, Sarah (2016). "Exclusive and Aspirational: Teen Retailer Brandy Melville Uses the Country Club Approach to Brand Promotion". Case Studies in Strategic Communication. 5.
  16. ↑ "Brandy Melville faces allegations of racism and body-shaming by former employees". TODAY.com. 12 June 2020. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  17. ↑ O'Dell, Anthony (2015). "MEET BRANDY MELVILLE'S SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER: APRILLE BALSOM". novellamag.com. Archived from the original on 2015-08-04. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  18. ↑ Taylor, Kate (2021). "Brandy Melville's CEO doesn't want Black people to wear the brand's clothing, according to an ex-store owner". businessinsider.com. Archived from the original on 2023-02-04. Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  19. ↑ Olding, Jamie Ross (7 September 2021). "No One Fat, No One Black, and Worse: The Brandy Melville Exposé's Most Batshit Bits". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2023-10-01.
  20. ↑ Moorman, Taijuan (April 11, 2024). "'Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion' doc examines controversial retailer Brandy Melville". USA TODAY . Retrieved 2024-04-13.
  21. ↑ Issawi, Danya (2024-04-11). "The Most Messed-up Findings in the Brandy Melville Documentary". The Cut . Retrieved 2024-04-12.
  22. ↑ Holtermann, Callie (2024-04-10). "'Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion': 5 Takeaways". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 10, 2024. Retrieved 2024-04-13.
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