It's literally one size per style and you can't try it on
In a quiet but telling move, Brandy Melville has permanently shuttered fitting rooms across all its US stores, offering only a minor vandalism trend as explanation. For a brand that already sells a single size targeting slender body types, the decision removes one of the last practical bridges between its clothing and the full range of young women who seek to wear it. The choice speaks less to a gum-sticking TikTok nuisance than to a deeper pattern: a retailer that has long defined belonging through exclusion, and now appears willing to deepen that exclusion rather than reckon with it.
- A one-size retailer has eliminated the only tool shoppers had to judge fit before buying — leaving customers to choose between purchasing blind or walking away entirely.
- The stated reason — a viral TikTok trend of gum being stuck to curtain walls — has struck many as a disproportionate response that punishes all shoppers for the behavior of a few.
- Young women are voicing sharp frustration online, with many pointing out the compounding absurdity: a brand that already excludes most body types now refuses to let anyone verify whether its single size even works for them.
- The closure lands against a backdrop of serious scrutiny — a 2024 HBO documentary alleged the brand promotes eating disorders and sexualizes its workforce, allegations the company has never publicly addressed.
- Employees were handed the directive to dismantle fitting rooms with little explanation and no coherent message to offer customers, leaving staff to absorb the awkwardness of a policy they didn't shape.
- Rather than resolving an operational irritant, the move appears to be accelerating the alienation that already defines Brandy Melville's fraught relationship with its own customer base.
Brandy Melville, the affordable one-size fashion label built around teenage girls, has permanently closed fitting rooms in all of its US stores. Employees at locations in New York City, Boston, and Austin confirmed the change to the BBC, though the company issued no public statement explaining the decision.
The backlash on social media was swift. Shoppers who once tried clothes on before committing to a purchase now face a blunt dilemma: buy without knowing how something fits, or don't buy at all. The frustration is sharpened by the brand's existing model — one size per style, designed for smaller body types — which already leaves many customers uncertain whether anything will fit them at all. "It's literally one size per style and you can't try it on," one TikTok user observed. "There's gonna be like a trillion returns."
Employees in Boston and Austin cited vandalism as the reason for the closures, pointing to a TikTok trend in which shoppers used chewing gum to hold fitting room curtains shut — a workaround for curtains that allegedly wouldn't stay fully closed on their own. Viral footage documented the practice, including a clip posted by an employee showing herself scraping gum off the walls. Staff at the Greenwich Village location said they received the directive to dismantle the rooms with minimal explanation and no clear message to relay to customers.
The timing intensifies the stakes. Brandy Melville has long attracted both devoted fans and vocal critics, and a 2024 HBO documentary — "Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion" — brought renewed scrutiny, alleging the brand actively promotes eating disorders and sexualizes its predominantly female workforce. The company has not responded to those allegations publicly.
By removing fitting rooms, Brandy Melville has eliminated the vandalism problem by erasing the space where it happened — but it has also stripped away one of the few mechanisms customers had to navigate a sizing model that, by design, doesn't accommodate most bodies. Shoppers now report feeling not just excluded by the clothing, but by the implicit signal that the company would rather close a door than open one. Whether the move drives returns up, sales down, or customers elsewhere remains uncertain. What it has already done is make the brand's relationship with its own audience feel a little more like a wall.
Brandy Melville, the one-size fashion retailer that has built its brand on selling affordable basics to teenage girls, has quietly dismantled the fitting rooms in all of its US stores this week. Employees at locations in New York City, Boston, and Austin confirmed the permanent closure to the BBC, though the company itself has offered no public explanation for the decision.
The move has ignited frustration on social media among the young women who make up the brand's core customer base. Shoppers who once relied on trying clothes on before purchase now face a stark choice: buy blind or don't buy at all. "How am I supposed to know if it's cute on me???!" one woman posted on TikTok. Another noted the practical absurdity: "It's literally one size per style and you can't try it on. There's gonna be like a trillion returns." The sense of alienation cuts deeper for a retailer already known for its exclusionary approach to sizing.
Brandy Melville's single-size model has long drawn criticism for catering exclusively to smaller body types, and the brand has faced sustained accusations of promoting unhealthy body image ideals among its young customers. A 2024 HBO documentary titled "Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion" went further, alleging that the company actively promotes eating disorders and sexualizes its predominantly female workforce. The retailer has not publicly responded to those allegations. Now, by removing the one mechanism that allowed shoppers to assess fit before committing to a purchase, the company appears to be doubling down on an already contentious business model.
When asked why the fitting rooms were being closed, employees in Boston and Austin cited vandalism as the reason. The culprit, they explained, was a TikTok trend in which shoppers used chewing gum to hold fitting room curtains in place—a workaround born from the fact that the curtains allegedly would not stay fully closed on their own. Viral videos posted earlier this year documented the practice, with one employee posting footage of herself scraping gum residue off the walls during her shift. "If you have ever stuck ur gum onto these walls, we have beef," she wrote. An Austin employee confirmed the pattern: "We've had a lot of issues with gum getting stuck to the curtains."
Staff at the Greenwich Village location said they received the directive to dismantle the fitting rooms with minimal explanation. The decision appears to have been made at the corporate level and rolled out across the chain without consultation. For employees already managing the tension between the brand's image and its controversial practices, the closure represented another layer of awkwardness—they were tasked with removing infrastructure without being given a coherent story to tell customers.
What makes this moment particularly loaded is the timing and context. Brandy Melville, founded in 1980, has cultivated a devoted following among teenagers and young adults who prize its minimalist aesthetic and affordable price point. But that loyalty has always coexisted with unease. The brand draws both passionate defenders and vocal critics on social media, and the documentary released last year amplified concerns that had been circulating for years about the psychological toll of shopping at a retailer that, by design, excludes most body types from its offerings.
The removal of fitting rooms doesn't solve the vandalism problem—it erases the problem by eliminating the space where it occurred. But it also removes one of the few tools customers had to navigate a one-size-fits-all model that, by definition, doesn't fit all. Shoppers now report feeling further pushed out, not just by the sizing but by the implicit message that the company would rather close its doors than accommodate them. Whether this move will reduce returns, increase them, or simply drive customers elsewhere remains to be seen. What's clear is that Brandy Melville has chosen to respond to a minor operational headache by deepening the alienation that already defines its relationship with its own customer base.
Citações Notáveis
How am I supposed to know if it's cute on me?— Brandy Melville shopper on TikTok
We've had a lot of issues with gum getting stuck to the curtains— Austin store employee
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why would a company close fitting rooms instead of, say, fixing the curtains or posting signs about the gum?
That's the question everyone's asking. The gum thing was a symptom—kids finding a workaround because the curtains didn't close properly. Instead of fixing the root problem, they eliminated the space entirely.
But that seems like it would create more problems. One-size clothing is already hard to buy without trying on.
Exactly. And that's what makes this feel less like a practical business decision and more like a statement. The brand has always been about exclusion—that's baked into the sizing. Closing the fitting rooms just makes it official.
Do you think they're trying to avoid the body image conversation altogether?
It's possible. If people can't try things on, they might buy less, return more, or shop elsewhere. But they also can't stand in front of a mirror and feel rejected by their own body in a Brandy Melville fitting room. That's one less place where the brand's sizing philosophy becomes a personal wound.
So by removing the fitting rooms, they're removing the evidence of the problem?
In a way. The gum vandalism was just kids being kids. But it gave the company cover to make a decision that actually serves their brand identity—which has always been about selling to a very specific body type, not accommodating everyone.