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.

@S0rrel

It isn’t normal for all. Far from it.Being a size 8 has caused my dd to end up in hospital. Bodies and metabolisms vary.

Are you being deliberately provocative? Being a specific size doesn’t ‘cause someone to end up in hospital’.

Are you aware that anorexia is a mental illness, not a size?

The problem is that everyone is different. I got teased as a teen when none of the clothes in c and a (showing my age here ) would fit- they were too big and I was very upset.
I think shops should and need to cater to a lot of sizes and body shapes. I'm barely a size 6 even as an adult and shops like this are nice in that the clothes actually fit and the store I go to have sizes right up to around an adult size 10 which I think is fine as many shops don't sell clothes that actually fit me- it goes both ways

But the way it's being marketed and portrayed in the media is the issue. And I agree with you that there should be stronger marketing restrictions.

You go into hospital when your body struggles and is at risk. For my dd that happens if she loses so much she goes down to a particular weight and size. It will vary.The mental illness side of it is treated elsewhere. Nothing provocative about that.

my teen dd and her friends have boycotted BM because of this only one size policy, and the clothes are really dull too. They all shop in charity shops now is much more fun.

I hear you OP.

My DD has been very sucked into their marketing. When we go to the shop it is full of 13-15yo white skinny middle class girls.

I am secretly relieved The clothes fit DD because I think it would have been a massive knock to her confidence if they didn't.

I wonder if part of the appeal of the brand is that only slender teens can fit the clothes. Did some psychologists somewhere come up with this concept for marketing purposes?

My DD is 13 but thank God this thread is the first time I've heard of this brand. It's disingenuous to compare it to Evans etc, which specifically markets itself as plus size, and sells a range of sizes. Clearly this brand on its own can't cause anorexia, but it's a cynical marketing approach to stock one size only and I can see how it could certainly feed into teens' insecurities and paranoia about their bodies.

I just had a look and they do an oversized hoodie and just normal looking clothes for young teen shapes.
Young teens are pretty slender, narrow of hip and flat of chest.. it changes as one matures up a bit.
Anorexia and Bulimia is of course ghastly.

I am sorry your daughter is unwell. The incidence of eating disorders has skyrocked alarmingly in the last year. However that doesn't make a UK 6-8 a not perfectly normal" size for a young teenager.

BM has a very specific demographic.

@suspiria777 it's lucky you don't have patients because your bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired!

It’s not normal for all 13-19 year olds to all be a size 6 or 8. It just isn’t. Teen bodies change a lot and the female shape can vary hugely in size quite naturally.

Looks like all cheap stock from China to me.

Probably small just because stock from china is!!

Selling one size is bat shit crazy no matter what size it is. Having a store that specify in petite ok some woman are tiny having plus size or tall all fine. Having a size where you either fit it or you don't is messed up it either makes them feel gutted at being too skinny or gutted and being to fat. It's not normal I won't allow my teen to shop there even if she did fit it.

DD used to love BM as it was cool to wear it in her school. Later revealed to me that it was only cool because all of the skinny girls could fit into it and that girls would make it a competition of who was too skinny for their clothes and it was cool to say, "oh my god i'm so small even brandy is too big for me".

Personally, I don't find any of their patterns cute or trendy but then again, I'm not a teenager.

Just shop elsewhere. BM exists because other shops don't have a massive range of choice in size 6 to 10, or not in stuff that appeals to teenagers. Some shops don't even sell a size 6, which is a perfectly normal and healthy size for an adult, let alone a teenager. It's more like a size 8 from 20 years ago anyway.

I shop in a local boutique that only sells most things in one size, it says will fit size 8 - 14 but realistically it's more like 10-12 for most garments. Should that not be allowed either?

I am sorry to hear of your daughter's condition. Sadly, I don't think BM or similar companies are to blame.

Maybe think about managing your daughter's access to social media and her choice of friends (if they are similarly ill or egging her on with "thinspiration"). Best wishes for her recovery.

I hope your daughter recovers and it must be hard to be dealing with this.

I personally like BM. It is very cute and although one size most items fits a normal healthy weight teenager. My teens buy there a lot and a lot of their friends too. They also sell oversize hoodies and bottoms that although one size they would fit fine. Casual California vibes rather than awful overly sexy stuff you find in other teen shops.

As the OP that commented you need to look into your daughters friendships and what is going on with her.

Thank God for BM. My teen DD was struggling to find clothes and feeling terrible having to buy kids clothes.
She’s 13, very, very narrow and fairly tall. It’s how she’s build, my DH’s family are all like that. 6ft and size 6-10 because they are narrow. They all look like long distance runners (and some are). That’s the way they are build. They don’t starve, they don’t diet, they are build like that. I’m very short and a size 10/12. We are build differently.
But I’m happy shops like BM exist because it tells my daughter that she’s not a freak because she’s a size 4-6.
Also, while we concentrate on the message of being allegedly skinny, I’ve seen 100’s of posts all over SM about being bigger and celebrating your curves and many feature really really large women.
Maybe BM has been hijacked by people aspiring to be skinny or people suffering from ED but there’s the other side too, there are the teens and young adults that are sick of wearing kids clothes or specialised and very expensive smaller sizes.

I am not a teen and I don't have teens so I don't know much about this particular brand, but I think it's pretty appalling that it comes in 1 size. There are always teens who are outside the average bracket (or there wouldn't be an average would there) and if they can't fit into those clothes for any reason (taller, curvier) that's a recipe for making them feel like total shit.

Brandy Melville is a racist, sizist, toxic brand, and I’m not sure why anyone with a social conscience would shop there. But each to their own, and I appreciate that not everyone will agree.
www.today.com/style/brandy-melville-faces-allegations-racism-body-shaming-former-employees-t183363

@FortVictoria

The thing is being called all those things have started to have little effect.

Do you think you are any less toxic shaming and killing teenagers illusions of buying in this shop? I think these allegations have been very unsuccessful because the shops sell like hot cakes.

It is a disgrace, I agree op. My teen dd wears BM and as a point of principle we have started boycotting the store. Her friend has a very serious ED and shops like this are not helping at all. So we choose stores now with better ethics.

[quote blueangel19]@FortVictoria

The thing is being called all those things have started to have little effect.

Do you think you are any less toxic shaming and killing teenagers illusions of buying in this shop? I think these allegations have been very unsuccessful because the shops sell like hot cakes.[/quote]
I was very clear in my post that people should, and will, do what they want. Not sure how I have been “shaming and killing teenagers illusions” by re-posting an article which features comments from someone who actually worked in the store and saw the racism and body shaming first hand. Some teenagers have a social conscience, and won’t shop there because of this. Good on them. Some teenagers will shop there anyway. That is their right.

14 inch bust is obviously a typo. I looked at one of the tops, it gave 14in/36cm for both the bust and length.

@S0rrel

They should be developing bigger hips and boobs. Trying to stay small enough to fit into a single size of clothes is pressure these girls don’t need.

There's no 'should' about it, some women have very small hips and breasts their whole lives. That's just their natural shape. My daughter is 21 and still fits into some of her age 11-12 clothes. She eats a normal diet and isn't excessively thin. I don't see anything wrong with that website. The models look healthy enough to me.

@S0rrel

It’s not normal for all 13-19 year olds to all be a size 6 or 8. It just isn’t. Teen bodies change a lot and the female shape can vary hugely in size quite naturally.

We know that the female shape varies, however it seems that the slimmer body shapes aren't catered for so well at the moment. There seems to be an assumption that most teenagers are bigger. I'm a slightly overweight adult, yet I can wear age 13-14 clothes from primark quite comfortably. That seems to be more of a problem to me.