Brandy Melville is an Italian clothing and fashion accessories brand that markets their products to young women. Brandy Melville controversially makes clothes of only one size.^[1] The company was established in Italy by Silvio Marsan^[2] but gained most of its popularity in California. 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.^[3]

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.^[4] The business grew popular among young girls, in part due to their Malibu teen aesthetic.^[4] The Brandy Melville Instagram page has over 3.2 million followers as of October 2022.^[5] The store's aesthetics feature a bleached wood theme and muted color palette.^[6]

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.^[7]

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. A reference to CEO Stefan Marsan's interest in Libertarianism.^[8]

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. ^[9] Brandy Melville has a strong presence on social media platforms, especially Instagram, where they showcase their latest designs and connect with their audience.^[10] 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.^[11] Brandy Melville's product research team consists of teenage employees, starting at age 14,^[6] 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.^[12]

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.^[13] 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.^[14]

Controversies

During its rise in popularity, Brandy Melville has faced considerable controversy for its "one-size" policy and lack of size inclusivity.^[15] Additionally, there’s been a controversy around their door in Vienna, that only opens to an extent so no overweight person can pass through. In 2015, Brandy Melville's social media manager Aprille Balsom commented: "It's actually not one size fits all it's just one size, which is a big conception."^[16] Each item is manufactured in one or two sizes, but these sizes are different depending on the item. Many consumers react poorly to this concept; however, the brand has said that it’s much more economically and environmentally efficient to produce one size of each item.^[17] According to an ex-store owner, the CEO, Stephan Marsan, thought that it would hurt the brand if Black or overweight people shopped at Brandy Melville or worked at the store. ^[18] Marsan and Brandy Melville’s top execs would also frequently share 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]

Current operations and franchises

As of January 2021, Brandy Melville has 97 locations in various countries, with 36 locations in the US.^[7]

Locations Worldwide: