Why is this teen fashion brand closing its fitting rooms?

Brandy Melville, the one-size fashion retailer, is now closing all changing rooms in its stores across the US, multiple employees have confirmed.

The move has caused an uproar on social media among the young women who frequent its stores nationwide, with one shopper calling it "devastating news".

"How am I supposed to know if it's cute on me???!" another woman commented on TikTok.

The brand, mostly marketed to teenage girls, has previously drawn criticism for offering a single size geared towards smaller body types, and for allegedly promoting unhealthy body image ideals.

The BBC has contacted Brandy Melville for comment.

The company has not issued any official statement about disassembling its changing rooms.

But employees at Brandy Melville stores in New York City, Boston, and Austin confirmed to the BBC that they were directed to permanently shut the fitting rooms in their stores this week.

Many shoppers who once turned to the brand for its affordable cotton basics now say they feel further alienated because of the changes.

"Stuff fits weird sometimes," one woman said on TikTok. "I would just always try stuff on to see what I wanted, but now I can't."

"It's literally one size per style and you can't try it on," another shopper said in a video. "There's gonna be like a trillion returns."

A Brandy Melville employee in New York City's Greenwich Village said staff were told to make the changes with little explanation.

Employees in Boston and Austin said the move was due to "vandalism".

Multiple viral videos posted earlier this year show shoppers using chewing gum to stick fitting room curtains to the wall, saying the curtains would not stay full closed on their own.

"We've had a lot of issues with gum getting stuck to the curtains," an Austin employee said, noting that sticking chewing gum to the walls of the changing room was a popular TikTok trend.

"If you have ever stuck ur gum onto these walls, we have beef," one employee wrote alongside a video of her scraping pieces of gum off the walls during her shift.

Another employee posted a video on Wednesday disassembling the fitting rooms at a different US location.

Brandy Melville, established in 1980, draws both love and hate on social media.

A 2024 HBO documentary Brandy Hellville & The Cult of Fast Fashion accused the retailer of promoting eating disorders and sexualising its young, female employees.

The retailer has not addressed the allegations in the documentary, or the criticisms for its exclusive sizing.

-BBC