Brandy Melville- only sells one tiny size. Why is this allowed to happen?

[S0rrel]

So since the first lockdown my dd is one of many teenagers contributing to the huge spike in Anorexia. It’s is deadly and incredibly difficult to beat once it has taken hold.

She needs new clothes and mentioned Brandy Melville. Went on to tell me they only sell one tiny size and her friends tell her she is small enough,barely able to hide her glee. Talk about putting dreadful pressure on already susceptible girls. How are we as parents supposed to battle crap like that. I did the women come in all shapes, how deplorable spiel. Went on complete deaf ears.

Why are they allowed to do this? What messages are we sending out to young girls.

I don't have daughters and I've not been thin since my teens, but BM clothes are worn like a badge of honour by many influencers. I didn't learn about the brand until I heard many references to it on youtube/instagram. Brands like BM are why social media can be dangerous for impressionable young girls, they know what BM is really about. A 'River Island top' is just another brand of top. A 'Brandy Melville top' is saying 'I am skinny enough to wear Brandy Meliville clothes.' Simply Be cannot be compared to BM, since being overweight has never been fashionable or aspirational.

My 15 yo DD buys most of her clothes from BM. So many of the styles are slouchy or oversized so I genuinely think all shapes and sizes could wear them. There are the classic crop tops etc but they're all jersey so stretch to fit all sizes and the jeans/skirts etc really aren't crazily small waisted. My DD is naturally slim (definitely no eating disorder) and she has to wear belts with some things.

The clothes themselves look quite boring (thinking 1990s Tammy girl type offering) but if success in selling clothes rests on the power of your brand, and this brand is built entirely on an aspirational slim-ness cut-off, then that is a very disingenuous way to sell clothes. None of those models look above a size 6, so if you sell only one size, they can’t possibly cater for a petite, healthy size 4 and a 5’8 healthy size 10. Presumably post puberty, some girls will not have the basic frame to fit these clothes however slim they are which is dangerous just at the time many girls are already experiencing dysphoria at their changing body/gaining curves etc.

I’m taking it out on said shop because it is making my job and the job of many parents like me that much harder. Given the epidemic of eating disorders caused by lockdown that is going to be an awful lot of parents.

The clothes in there are actually pretty good quality which makes a change for that market!

If that’s true, then their website photos are shocking. It all looks really crap and cheap. 😬

The clothes themselves look quite boring (thinking 1990s Tammy girl type offering)

Yes - except Tammy Girl was conspicuously better quality than that stuff.

Just looked at the website and I find it so weird!

The clothes they sell are actually very bland and boring, and I'm surprised they appeal to teenage girls to be honest. I think the appeal is the fact that they are small, rather than that they are even nice or particularly fashionable!

I think it's pretty unethical for a company to market itself like this.

It's different to the likes of Simply Be and other brands based around size because they literally only sell a single size. Simply Be covers size 14-30 or something, a huge range. This shop are just selling jeans in one single size, so obviously a selling point of the brand is that you can say you are that size.

Really wrong and in my opinion a lot of what is wrong with society is right there!

"Realistically no one has ever made themselves overweight because they believed it to be aspirational."

Yeah you'd be very very wrong its a whole thing. And thy get a job out of it too

I’ve never heard of the brand at my advanced age of 32- took a look at the website and it looks like the contents of a mid 90s school’s lost and found collection.

It was similar with Hollister circa 2008 when they first came to the U.K- tiny sizes, designed for a very specific body type, which as a size 10 21 year old with big thighs wasn’t great for the self esteem.

I hope your daughter is doing better soon OP. It’s a truly dreadful disease, not helped by things like this and social media. I hope you both have support. 💐

I don’t get it as a concept, tbh. It seems a bit of a shit business idea, ethical issues aside. Plus the clothes look like bog std basics from H&M.

@JayDot500

I don't have daughters and I've not been thin since my teens, but BM clothes are worn like a badge of honour by many influencers. I didn't learn about the brand until I heard many references to it on youtube/instagram. Brands like BM are why social media can be dangerous for impressionable young girls, they know what BM is really about. A 'River Island top' is just another brand of top. A 'Brandy Melville top' is saying 'I am skinny enough to wear Brandy Meliville clothes.' Simply Be cannot be compared to BM, since being overweight has never been fashionable or aspirational.

Well without ever having been "aspirational" the majority of the population is overweight.

So clearly aspirational doesn't have any effect on the bulk population

I’m very sorry to hear that your DD is unwell, I hope she makes a rapid recovery

So clearly aspirational doesn't have any effect on the bulk population

This is about teens. Things like this combined with social media can be devastating to them,

The clothes are VERY stretchy generally. My 18yo dd fits them and she is a 34 E!

@Sapho47, but ‘aspirational’ has a huge influence on adolescents.

We have plus sized shops, and shops for tall people and shops for women with big boobs; why not a shop for petite women? My experience of it is as the perfect shop for tweens. Mine loved it between age 12-14; grown up designs in a small size. That age bracket is really under-catered for in the clothes market.
Now they're bigger, both in size and in age, they think it's a bit "basic" and probably wouldn't want to shop there anyway - although they could as a lot of the clothes are fairly unstructured - t-/shirts and hoodies where there is some leeway on sizing.

So clearly aspirational doesn't have any effect on the bulk population

Well no, because thankfully as people mature they become slightly less dependent on what others think of them to build up their self worth.

Does your average 30 something mother give a fuck that she can’t fit into these clothes? Probably not.

But a 15 year old absolutely will care that she doesn’t meet this very narrow idea of what an acceptable shape is.

I don't understand why some posters are being obtuse. This shop only sells one size not a range of sizes. So the clothes might fit your 13 year old today, then puberty hits her hips get wider and the whole shop is off limits to her as the clothes are only one size. Many teenagers will be able to shop in their at some point but a teenage body will develop and change shape so they won't be able to but from there for the whole of their teens. This will affect some girls as the brand uses sizing as something to aspire to. That to wear this brand you can only be one size, that is the preferred size
the size you should aim to be. That is a negative message for young women and can be incredibly harmful. I hear you op.

My dd bought a lot of clothes from Brandy Melville as a teenager. She is now 20 and still buys the odd top from there as she likes some of the styles. I'm not sure about the comments on the sizing of the tops - my dd wears a 30DD bra and they fit her so they literally can't be as small as some people are saying. I would say she is a size 8, maybe 10 in some shops. They also sell mainly tops which are easier to do in one size than bottoms which would need to fit more accurately I guess. It's really cut out for a very niche teenage market - lots of teens are naturally very small and struggle to find clothes between the children's ranges and the adult ranges.

Unless you're very tall, 26" or 28" is not that small a waist size for a teenaged girl.

I'm an average height and have 24" waist jeans and size 0 skirts and trousers, and I am definitely not anorexic. (Also I'm in my 40s.) I also used to have some 23" waist shorts which were size 8 - from M&S, not a trendy shop for teenagers.

I can see the OP's point of view, however. I think BM's philosophy is potentially problematic, especially given that their clothes are aimed at the demographic most likely to suffer with anorexia.

Well without ever having been "aspirational" the majority of the population is overweight. So clearly aspirational doesn't have any effect on the bulk population

I think that's rather simplistic. If aspirational is leading to disordered eating, it could certainly be contributing to society's weight problem. Starving/bingeing and generally having a bad relationship with food can lead to a weight problem - losing sight of food as something we need to nourish ourselves, and seeing it purely in terms of reward/punishment.

As there’s no BM where I live, I always try to go to one when I travel as it’s one of my favourites. As a PP said, it’s not actually that all the items are the same size; it’s that each item only comes in one size. This is a huge cost saving measure for them. Now I’m not denying at all that the sizes are very small but there’s stuff in there that is both too small and too big for me. (I’m a small chested size 8 with big hips for reference)

It’s one size but it’s not tiny sizing. The sweatshirts and t shirts are big and baggy and the other clothes fit my 5ft 6 size 8-10 daughter well. It’s mostly stretchy and isn’t just for teeny tiny girls

@TwelvePaws

The clothes in there are actually pretty good quality which makes a change for that market!

If that’s true, then their website photos are shocking. It all looks really crap and cheap. 😬

Vast majority are brilliant thick cotton, I was surprised but they’re far superior to things I buy which are way more expensive!

The majority of people who have actually bought from there are saying their kids are not super skinny, have boobs and the clothes fit. Some are very small, other items really aren’t.
Personally I like BM as it’s age appropriate which is an issue in many shops.
Apparently the 90s is ‘in’