A controversial fashion giant is closing its fitting rooms | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

Remember those teenage years when we first began to question ourselves, trying to figure out how to connect, or disconnect, from the world around us? For generations of teenagers, fashion has played a major role in achieving both of those goals.

While style trends change every season, consumer habits are undergoing a much deeper macroeconomic shift. Over the last couple of years, retail loyalty has moved on from simple “logo recognition to emotional connection,” reports Fashion Times.

Today, clothes are no longer just a fabric to wear. They represent specific aesthetics, lifestyles, and identities. This psychological shift explains the sudden rise of cult fashion brands, “labels that inspire devoted followings through identity-driven design rather than mass appeal,” the report found.

What defines a cult fashion brand?

Distinct aesthetic: Creates an instant, highly recognizable identity without relying on loud, massive logos.
Limited availability: Restricts product availability, triggering immediate consumer demand through artificial scarcity.
Lifestyle alignment: Targets a niche consumer mindset, morphing clothing into an explicit badge of personal values.
Consistent storytelling: Weaves a unified narrative across social media feeds and physical brick-and-mortar stores alike. Source: Fashion Times

By maintaining a highly recognizable aesthetic and controlling their distribution, many cult brands have successfully turned clothing into a synonym of cultural identity. But what happens when a brand known for its strict, identity-driven allure suddenly cuts off the very space where consumers experiment with that identity?

One controversial fashion giant is about to find out.

Brandy Melville reportedly closes all its fitting rooms.

Smith Collection/Gado / Getty Images

Brandy Melville reportedly closing its fitting rooms

A controversial, one-size-fits-most fashion brand is reportedly closing its changing rooms across its stores in the United States, according to the BBC, citing multiple employees.

The news sparked an uproar across social media among its loyal customers, arguing that this is “devastating news.”

“How am I supposed to know if it’s cute on me???!” another woman ask on TikTok.

The rumors started over the last few days, when a number of customers and store employees took to TikTok and X to share that the popular teen fashion brand has ditched its fitting rooms and removed all mirrors from its stores, writes The Cut.

Some customers tried to improvise, recording themselves while holding up desired clothes to their bodies, since they were unable to actually try them on.

So far, the brand has not confirmed or denied the news spread across the media, but employees at Brandy Melville stores in New York City, Boston, and Austin confirmed to the BBC that they were told to permanently close the changing rooms in their stores.

Why is Brandy Melville removing its changing rooms?

According to viral videos and reports from people claiming to be store employees, the brand has started closing down its fitting rooms for two main reasons:

To stop shoplifting: Many stores have struggled with people stealing clothes inside the dressing rooms.
The “gum” and mess problem: Customers frequently left a mess, including gum stuck to the walls and curtains. Source: TheCut

The company is rolling this out as a new “nationwide” no-dressing-room policy, and is also extending the exchange policy to 21 instead of 14 days to accommodate for the change, according to one woman on TikTok, who claims to be an assistant manager at a Brandy Melville store.

A risky move that could lead to an endless, high-stakes loop

The brand was previously already heavily criticized for its exclusive sizing. Removing the space where customers can actually see if the clothes fit, could be the last straw for some customers, especially due to its store credit for returns policy.

According to multiple reports from customers, you can only return items in store within 14 days, and there are no cash returns for in-store purchases, only online. This means that customers might end up buying clothes that don’t fit in, and they need to exchange it for something else that also might not fit as well as desired, as they can’t try it out on site. The return window may be extended to 21 days.

This could result in another exchange, and another, and so on.

A fashion enigma that doesn’t ‘need to beg for attention’

Brandy Melville has grown into a global cult-favorite fashion brand, running 94 stores across 6 continents. Analysts project that the brand has seen a strong annual growth of 25%, according to Financial Times.

There are two features that distinguish this teen fashion brand from many others around the world. It’s not the unique style, rather than its famous and often dubbed controversial “one-size-fits-most” sizing policy, which sparked many debates over its exclusionary nature, writes The Science Survey.

With small and extra small size, the brand is promoting a narrow standard of beauty and body type.

What also makes the brand different is its approach to marketing. Brandy Melville doesn’t deploy an tradition marketing strategies, such as flashy campaigns or collaborations.

“This lack of typical advertising creates a sense of authenticity and desirability, positioning Brandy Melville as a brand that doesn’t need to beg for attention, as it already has the spotlight,” according to The Science Survey’s Editor in Chief Simone Ginsberg.

This doesn’t mean that the brand has no marketing. On the contrary, its strategy is carefully designed to match the brand’s concept. It promotes itself most on social media, website and in-person stores. For example, its Instagram feed doesn’t feel like it’s coming from a company but a real life teenage girl who shares spontaneous moments and even photos of everyday customers, notes Ginsberg.

The stores themself also align with the very essence of the brand with its intentional simplicity, choice of lighting, music and store layout.

Moreover, the brand is known for staying quiet when criticized, which seems to only empower its enigmatic appeal.

Brandy Melivlle has created “a paradox where the brand’s very exclusivity drives its popularity. Frankly, while the size-exclusive approach isolates many, it also deepens the loyalty of those who do fit its standard, reinforcing the allure of belonging to an elite group,” concludes Ginsberg.

Customers react Brandy Melville’s decision to close fitting rooms

The news quickly spread online and customers shared their disbelief and frustration. Many of them were disappointed to hear the news, arguing that “one-size-fits-most” is already a major gamble, and that without fitting rooms it would be like buying clothes entirely blind.

“Honestly between this and all the polyester creeping into everything while prices rise I’m done with Brandy. If they just made the curtains close people wouldn’t do that. They manufacture their own problems and then profit off of them,” wrote Reddit user Capital_Coat_2043.

One user shared a revenge idea, writing on TikTok, “I’m gonna buy clothes and stretch it out on my fat ass and return it.”

User MicToria wrote on TikTok: “I’ve never seen a brand that likes their customers less.”

Some customers shared they understand why the brand is doing this, arguing that shoppers who acted inappropriately (sticking gum to curtains and walls) are to blame, while others suggested the brand should just put doors instead of curtains, or remove changing rooms completely.