After coming under fire for its lack of inclusive sizing and alleged “toxic” work culture, Brandy Melville, the former Gen-Z retail darling known for its affordably-priced staples, looks to be experimenting with a new concept store in Santa Monica.
Since May, TikTok users have been sharing videos of themselves exploring the store, called St George, while searching for evidence that it’s owned by Brandy Melville. With a beachy vibe, the store closely resembles a Brandy Melville store — but there’s one difference that TikTokers have been quick to point out. Unlike its alleged parent brand, St George — which, according to Google Maps, is located at 1511 Montana Avenue — is more size-inclusive. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, it offers sizes from small to at least large, as showcased in the social videos.
Glossy found an April 9 email chain on the group platform Groups.io announcing the opening of St George on Montana Ave. “St George at Brandy Melville is a special collection from Brandy Melville featuring the St George line of women’s clothing,” the excerpt from the Montana Ave. Merchants Association read.
According to TikTok sleuths, the new store claims to target shoppers 25 and older by featuring more expansive sizes, home decor and other lifestyle offerings including olive oil.
In addition to TikTok, a May 2024 thread on Reddit fueled buzz around St George. “The store aesthetics seem more mature. There aren’t any graphics, and it’s selling solid-colored staples,” one user wrote in the thread. Another user added that the storefront has its own Instagram page, which Glossy could not find. The last post that Brandy Melville shared referencing the St George brand was in June 2023, in which it referred to St George as a standalone coffee shop opening in New York. Brandy Melville has another coffee shop in Los Angeles’s shopping center The Grove.
If the claims that St George is a new brand under Brandy Melville are true, the retailer may be working to clean up its tainted image. For years, Brandy Melville has faced backlash for its hiring practices, its contribution to overconsumption culture, its controversial CEO and, most often cited, its negative impact on the body positivity movement. In April, years of backlash came to a head when HBO Max released a documentary titled “Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion.” In it, former employees and consumers recount their experiences working and shopping at the brand.
With St George, the company may have a chance to redeem itself, following in the footsteps of comeback heritage brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch.
A previous estimate from Neil Saunders, a managing director of research firm GlobalData, revealed that Brandy Melville’s total sales in 2023 were around $212.5 million, up from $169.6 million in 2019. Brandy Melville did not respond to requests to comment on this story.
