Brandy Melville is an Italianclothing and fashion accessories brand, marketing their products to teenage girls and young women. The company was established in 1970 in Italy by Silvio Marsan and his son, Stephan Marsan. The brand name and logo was inspired by the fictional tale of two people – Brandy, an American girl, and Melville, an English guy who met in Rome and fell in love. Brandy Melville's first retail store was opened in 2009, bordering UCLA in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. By 2015, the brand had grown to 95 stores worldwide. In a similar way to Primark, the stores place little emphasis on advertising, relying instead on social media and word-of-mouth. The clothing line is extended to some pop-up stores in Nordstrom and Pac Sun. Though the company originated in Europe, Brandy adjusts their prices, clothing styles, and accessory items to American customers by taking "store style" photos of the clothing worn by the customers shopping in-store. To keep a European aesthetic within American stores, Brandy Melville marks the prices of clothing items with a fake "euro". One "euro" equals one American dollar. The company's products are sold in physical stores in places such as Europe, the United States, Asia, Canada, the United Kingdom and on their website. Brandy Melville has been described as trend-setting, relevant, cool and fast fashion. Brandy Melville's one-size-fits-small aspect has brought criticism and controversy upon the company, with some customers unable to fit into the brand's clothing items, considering their size to be too big or small. Most of Brandy Melville's apparel offers clothing in only one sizeexcept for some styles of jeans. Brandy's product research team consists of teenage employees starting at age 15 in an attempt to keep the company's styles contemporary. The company does not use usual advertising techniques they depend heavily on social media for their advertising. The Brandy Melville Instagram account has 3.9 million followers. The return policy states that clothing may be exchanged or returned for store credit within 14 days of purchase and all accessories and intimates are final sale.
Current operations and franchises
Brandy Melville currently has 154 locations across the world - with 96 of those locations being in the US and 3 locations in Canada. Brandy Melville's huge success in the US did not reflect on their business in Canada. Over the past year Brandy Melville has closed 2 of their Toronto locations, Yorkdale mall and Square One. As of now Brandy Melville makes around $125 million annually of sales and has a 20-25% growth rate.
