Overview
Once considered the minimalist gold standard for teen fashion, Brandy Melville now stands as a case study in how toxic culture, unchecked power, and racial and body discrimination can be embedded into the fabric of a brand. What looked like aesthetic simplicity was, beneath the surface, a tightly controlled, Eurocentric vision of beauty underpinned by exclusionary hiring, silent leadership, and unaccountable operations.
This breakdown reveals the real—and makes the case for why youth-driven fashion must also mean justice-driven business.
✖️ What Went Wrong
Discriminatory Hiring Practices: Leaked internal messages and employee testimonies revealed Brandy’s deliberate exclusion of people of color, plus-sized individuals, and non-European aesthetics from its stores, marketing, and brand strategy.
Racist and Antisemitic Content: In 2021, Insider reported that founder Stephan Marsan circulated Nazi imagery and bigoted messages in private group chats with executives.
Workplace Harassment and Silence: Employees were routinely fired or sidelined for minor weight changes, aging past their teens, or expressing dissent. Complaints were ignored.
Cultural Gaslighting: While profiting from Black aesthetics, Brandy refused to platform Black models or acknowledge the communities that helped push its trend virality.
These actions weren’t isolated—they were systemic and deliberate.
🧾 What Was Promised
In response to public pressure:
A vague statement about “respect and inclusion” was posted and quickly removed.
No formal DEI strategy, hiring goals, or apology from executives.
No restitution or repair offered to the communities targeted or harmed.
No significant leadership changes, audits, or community engagement initiatives were ever made public.
Brandy chose silence over responsibility.
🔍 What Was Actually Done
The brand withdrew from public accountability, going dark on social media for over a year. When it returned, it posted without addressing the controversy.
Marketing materials remained homogenous—young, thin, white-presenting models dominate its image.
No public-facing reforms in sourcing, sizing, partnerships, or executive accountability have emerged.
Watchdog organizations continue to flag Brandy Melville as a brand failing basic inclusion benchmarks, with no formal systems for addressing complaints or structural change.
The brand is still operating under its original, harmful vision—only quieter.
🌱 Brand Embetterment Potential
What is Brand Embetterment?
It’s not perfection. It’s a model of ethical evolution: where a company acknowledges harm, listens to those impacted, and takes transparent steps to repair and regenerate—not just reputationally, but structurally.
For Brandy Melville, embetterment could include:
🛑 Executive Transition: Removal or distancing of leaders implicated in racist and antisemitic behavior.
🧾 Annual Public Audits: Conducted by third-party DEI and ethical compliance organizations.
👥 Diverse Hiring Pipeline: Actively recruit, hire, and promote staff from diverse backgrounds across size, race, gender, ability, and identity.
🌍 Global Accountability Council: Including youth, activists, and former employees to advise and audit brand practices.
💰 Restorative Giving: Invest in communities it harmed—via grants to body-positive orgs, Black and brown-led fashion incubators, and ethical labor initiatives.
💸 Reparative investment in youth organizations focused on body positivity and anti-racism.
📦 Expanded product lines that include plus-size and diverse body types—designed collaboratively with diverse creators.
🎨 Campaigns that uplift cultural diversity in storytelling, fashion history, and body narratives.
Until those steps are taken, any claim to change is merely performative.
✅ Ethical Alternatives
If you believe fashion should reflect freedom—not exclusion—here are brands walking the walk:
Brand Name and What They Do Well
Parade: Inclusive sizing, gender fluidity, community grants, and climate impact reports.
Girlfriend Collective: Ethical production, plus-size inclusion, recycled materials, and supply chain transparency.
Automic Gold: Queer-owned jewelry brand with no Photoshop marketing and all-gender models.
TomboyX: Underwear for every body, identity, and pronoun. Loudly values-driven.
📊 Brand Scorecard (0–10 Scale,10 highest)
Category Score
Commitment to Equity: 1
Transparency: 0
Representation: 1
Accountability: 0
Embetterment Effort: 0
Overall 0.4
🛠️ Recommendations for Conscious Consumers
Divest from brands that ignore your dignity.
Redirect spending to small, inclusive labels.
Educate others using platforms like Not My Money.
Demand more: ask brands for hiring audits, ethical sourcing disclosures, and restorative investment.
🔚 Final Word
Brandy Melville isn't a glitch in the system—it’s a feature of it. But the fashion economy is shifting. Gen Z and millennial buyers hold more influence than ever. Let’s use it not just to cancel, but to construct a market where equity is the baseline—not the branding.
Your style is your story; align it with your power. Empower Your Every Purchase.
#NotMyMoney #BrandBreakdowns #BrandyMelville #EconomicJustice #BodyInclusion #SpendWithPurpose #BrandEmbetterment#EmpowerYourEveryPurchase