The controversial and popular fast fashion retailer Brandy Melville opened its newest store in North Texas this month.
The new 3,463-square-foot store opened on February 15 at The Shops at Legacy East in Plano. It is the second Brandy Melville to open in Dallas-Fort Worth and the sixth in the entire state. The new location is nearly 60% larger than the first DFW store, which opened in 2022 at Southlake Town Square.
Silvio Marsan and his son Stephan created Brandy in Italy in the early 1980s. The retailer did not expand to the United States until 2009 when it opened its first U.S. location near the University of California, Los Angeles campus.
Today, Stephan and his brother Yvan serve as president and secretary of the retailer’s subsidiary, Bastiat USA.
The Santa Monica, California-based brand grew popular among young shoppers desiring affordable, minimalist fashion. It grew a reputation for its “one-size-fits-all” policy that caters to a relatively smaller body size.
While many retailers have expanded size and shape offerings to fit a broader range of body types in recent years, Brandy has kept its selection within a relatively narrow band, a policy that has at times brought it heat in a market focused on DEI.
However, brands catering to a wide variety of sizes have also struggled to forecast inventory, leading to too many articles of some sizes and too few of others.
Neil Saunders, a managing director of research firm GlobalData, told The Wall Street Journal last year that Brandy’s limited sizing is “much more cost-effective.”
“Smaller sizes require less material. You don’t have to distribute the right sizes to stores, you don’t sell out of larger sizes and have smaller sizes left over. It makes for a relatively simple business,” he explained.
Brandy Melville was featured in the HBO-aired documentary “Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion.” The film criticized the wider fast fashion industry, which includes brands like Primark, Uniqlo, and H&M. It also alleged that Brandy possesses a toxic work culture.
The Brandy Melville location at Legacy East will join other retailers, like Urban Outfitters, Everything But Water, and Kendra Scott.