Stephen Marsan: Brandy Melville CEO doesn't hire Black or fat girls, claims report
According to a shocking report from Insider, Brandy Melville, the popular 'one-size-fits-most' brand that is targeted at teen girls, has a toxic work atmosphere fostered by its CEO, promoting exploitation of young women and was openly racist and discriminatory. CEO Stephen Marsan's toxic workplace allows only White, thin, pretty girls to work in his stores, as per the report.
Former senior vice president of the store, Luca Rotondo, revealed to the publication that she was told by Marsan to hire only girls who fit his specifications. "If she was Black, if she was fat... he didn’t want them in the store," Rotondo told the publication. It was also revealed that multiple women were fired for their physical appearance and race.
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The report revealed that Marsan was so involved in every area of the business that he would even ask for full-body pictures of girls (some as young as 14) before he would allow store managers to hire them. Apparently, once the girls began working at Brandy Melville, it was expected of them to keep sending full-body pictures to Marsan whenever they were at the store. The CEO claimed it was because he wanted to keep an eye on fashion trends.
Who is Stephen Marsan?
Silvio Marsan launched the brand in Italy in the 1990s before bringing it to the US in 2009. The European clothing and accessory brand is a favorite of supermodels Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner and is seen on singers Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift. As per reports, the clothing store has nearly 100 store locations worldwide and surpassed an annual global revenue of $250 million as of 2019.
As the company continued its ascent, Marsan became more controlling, according to the report. In 2013, he directed staff at various stores to remove all but the three smallest sizes of clothing from the floor, as per the publication. From then on, Brandy Melville adopted the “one-size-fits-most” approach of only offering small sizes.
Meanwhile, the publication also said Marsan sent text messages to a group text named "Brandy Melville gags" that were racist, misogynistic and anti-Semitic. Staff claimed Marsan and other top executives had a group chat where they would share racist and sexist memes, including one that featured Hitler. One edited photo of the Nazi leader was captioned “Nobel Prize for barbecue,” the report said. Marsan also sent countless racist messages, according to the Insider report. At one point, the report said, he sent a picture of the show 'Happy Days' with the caption, “There were no Black people in this show - that’s why it was called ‘Happy Days’.” The group members also exchanged multiple pornographic images, according to the report.
Apparently, Marsan is keeping a low profile as he is not responding to the publication's request for a comment. He and other senior executives didn’t respond to Insider’s requests for comment.
Despite the allegedly toxic culture, multiple female employees told the publication that it was a status symbol to work at such an 'exciting brand'. The girls that management favored, who were known as 'special snowflakes', were treated with kid gloves and were given access to the company’s Soho loft, flown on trips to Hawaii and Italy and were taken on shopping sprees. But it led to inappropriate behavior.
One 21-year-old manager said she was sexually assaulted at the company’s Soho loft by a man who ran a number of Brandy Melville stores, according to Insider.