Brandy Melville is a huge brand and has made a big impact on “fast fashion”. It’s a must-have for teens all around the world. However, behind the scenes of this aesthetically pleasing brand, is a toxic work environment. These can all vary from fatphobia, antisemitism, inappropriate conduct with minors, and even sexual assault.
A documentary was released on Brandy Melville and all of its secrets. Well, it’s no secret that they are super picky, they have one size and that size only fits people with a thinner complexion. Brandy Melville was worse than that however, executives demanding full-body photos of sales associates which the majority were high school students, and even forcing managers to terminate any individuals that higher-ups felt were off brand.
“If she was black, if she was fat… he didn’t want them in the store” Luca Rotondo a former senior vice president. Rotondo was at Brandy Melville for nearly a decade and during his time there he said that he was instructed to fire “hundreds” of employees. He shared an example, which showed a screenshot of a manager in Newport Beach, California, who had darker hair. In his native Italian, Marsan claimed that the location was “only hiring pieces of sh**” and that thehy would dull the veneer that Brandy Melville had carefully cultivated “white, thin and blonde”.
There are more reports about the antisemitism in additon to the racism and sexism. Reporter Kate Taylor describes an instance where Marsan photoshopped his face on Hitler’s body for a group chat of executives. Two separate lawsuits saw Canadian store owners were fired after they went against Marsan’s request to fire employees that didn’t fit into the stereotypes. However, Bastiat USA, the company that operates Brandy Melville denied that it “has ever fired an employee on account of his or her race”. Marsan has also not spoken publicly about this.
Employees also reported that they would “model” clothes for the executives and that some as young as 14 years old would take their tops off, believing that they would get raises if they did so or access to any extra perks, like shopping sprees and nights at the brand’s SoHo apartment. Some employees even accused Marsan of inappropriately touching them and sending underage employees alcohol.
Brandy Melville was at its peak around 2016 to 2019, due to the popularity around influencers. While Brandy Melville countines to push its very specific brand of beauty, the world is changing at a very rapid pace and the brand is not able to keep up. As groups of former employees gather together and they hope that the brand and its executives will be exposed, and if they get their way, and that they get shut down completely.
I believe that a brand that is being exposed by many former employees, police should look more into it especially with the sexual assaults. Also, people should be informed about where they are purchasing their clothes from, beccause of all the things that happen right in our faces and behind closed doors.
