Good news for trend lovers. Do you know that you do not have to break the bank to put on the latest clothes?
It is interesting to know that you can get trendy clothing from trusted fashion brands at very affordable rates.
Most interestingly, some of these brands sell the latest clothing online and ship it directly to customers as retail stores.
As you read further, you will get to know a few of those brands, what they produce, their target audience, and how they function.
Differences Between Brandy Melville And Shein
Brandy Melville and Shein are retail outlets. The first began with a store in California where they manufactured their clothes. With time, Brandy Melville opened 11 more stores in different parts of the world.
Shein does not have physical stores where they produce clothes until recently. Their manufacturers are scattered around different countries of the world, so they mail their products to customers not minding their location.
Although both brands are active on social media, Shein has a larger audience of over 250 million followers on their online platforms.
They double as one of the fastest fashion companies in the world. As of 2022, they were the world’s largest fashion retails.
They upload 6000 new items to their online platforms every day. Brandy Melville has an active presence online, but not like Shein.
Shein’s delivery is excellent. They are sharp at arriving at any destination you choose. You can as well be assured that they will get to you true to style and tone.
Their discounts and promotions are massive, they advertise online much more than Brandy Melville does.
Review Of Brandy Melville
When Jessy Logan brought Brandy Melville from Italy in 2009, it was launched that year and since then, they have been operating as a family business that is now renowned.
Recently, Brandy Melville has grown from one store to 11 different stores in the city of California. They have an active Tik Tok account of over 3.4 million people.
Brandy Melville is strict about its audience, which is targeted at skinny teen girls. They do not have any standard advert system but are dogged about their Instagram platform where they display young girls modeling their styles.
In most cases, the girls are agency-represented models or the brand’s employees. The brand paints pictures of an ‘attractive, hot-looking teen look.
Brandy Melville does not have a running system for adverts but makes use of models to publicize their designs.
Since the brand esteems its image and manufactures mostly luxury clothes, they are strict on protecting what the brand stands for.
Considering their target audience, Brandy Melville produces one-size-fits-all garments, including denim and all of their pants. This popular teen brand in the US is known as ‘basic’.
This means that the clothes they produce are not so unique, since they mostly manufacture what is trendy and may always fade out of fashion.
Also, their materials are not outstanding per se but of average quality. After much observation, their denim is not anywhere close to perfection and does not fit a regular body size due to their sizing policy.
To a large extent, their clothing is breathable, especially their shirts which are made of 100% cotton.
Pros:
- Smooth materials
- Consistent sizing
- Trendy styles
- Breathable
- Specific audience
Cons:
- One-size-fit-all strategy
- Poor quality
Review of Shein
Formerly known as She Inside, Shein is a Chinese company pioneered by Chris Xu in China, in the year 2008. The brand kick-started with the optimism that everyone who puts on their clothes can enjoy fashion.
They design trendy styles of lower quality at very affordable rates. This Chinese company sells clothing manufactured in over 220 countries of the world.
Shein’s clothes are consistent in sizing, but not for all items. They are produced by generic companies at reduced costs.
It is accurate that they do not produce quality clothes, anyway, it is important not to downplay the value they offer. The price range in which their clothes are sold is worth the quality, but not for a higher price.
Their online presence is strategic, with over 1.4 million followers on TikTok. This business-to-consumer brand mails their products directly to customers since they do not necessarily have physical stores where they trade their clothing, until recently, they dispatch them to buyers all over the world.
To a large extent, Shein has replaced some big brands and increased in worth since they began to sell trendy clothes at reduced quality.
They are one of the biggest fast-fashion brands in the world, but their unethical practices pose dangers to the atmosphere.
Shein produces thousands of designs every day and does not pay much attention to creativity. Generally, they are not only sold at cheaper prices but are very easy to tidy up and maintain.
Pros:
- Trendy fashion
- Affordable prices
- Large varieties of clothings.
- Mail products to customers
Cons:
- Duplicity
- Not ethical
Side-by-side comparison
| Features | Brandy Melville | Shein |
| Business | Manufacturers are scattered across over 200 countries. | Family owned |
| Materials | Poor quality | Fair for its price. |
| Sizing/Fit | One-size-fits-all | Inconsistent sizing |
| Market | Young girls | Teenagers, women, men and infants. |
| Price | Expensive | Affordable |
| Publicity | Deliberate IG adverts which involve modeling. | Modeling, sponsored influencers, targeted adverts. |
If you hunt for trendy clothing online, you are Brandy Melville and Shein’s target audience. Even though they are online retail stores and have other similarities, they possess certain qualities which make them distinct.
Those characteristics will be explained in the bullet points underneath.
Brand
Brandy Melville is essentially concerned with making trendy clothes and furnishing their customers with bold looks.
Their peculiar style is in their one-size-fits-all design, which is not up to regular size, but perfect for skinny young women.
Brandy Melville makes their clothing in Italy, unlike Shein, which manufactures its clothes in over 200 different factories around the world.
Brandy Melville has a standard advert policy where they use models to advertise their designs. Although their designs are modeled after trendy ones, they do not employ creativity. The brand produces outfits such as shirts, sweatpants, and so on.
On the other hand, Shein stores do not only sell clothing for young women but men and children inclusive.
Although they do not make clothes in one size, they are not consistent with their sizes. Shein replicates trendy styles with fewer quality materials and at cheaper rates.
They make use of social media platforms to advertise their products. This has made them attract a large number and a lot of sales. Recently, Shein became the number one shopping brand on the App store.
This fast fashion brand produces thousands of fashion wears each passing day with an average of about 600,000 clothes for sale online.
Material
It is no news that Brandy Melville and Shein are unethical in their production. Most of Brandy Melville’s clothing is made of artificial cotton and polyester mix.
While Shein’s clothing does not embrace ethical and sustainable standards, they also make use of polyester and cotton to design their clothing. They do not prevent landfills and waste in the environment.
Brandy Melville’s shirts are made of 100 percent cotton.
Style and Design
Brandy Melville’s clothing is designed in Californian styles. They produce nice but ‘chic’ looking clothing for teenage girls.
Some of their designs include shirts, sweatpants, pants, leggings, and so on for young demography.
Then again, Shein’s clothings cannot be traced exactly to a certain style because they follow trends and are produced in different countries of the world.
Unlike Brandy Melville, they design and sell fashion outfits for women, men, and infants. Teenage girls who love trends are a part of their audience too.
They design a large amount of clothing every day. Such as loosed blouses, skirts, coats, trendy wear, sweaters, swimsuits, maternity wear, jewelry, accessories, bags, and so on.
Sizing And Fit
Brandy Melville produces fine dresses, but there is always controversy when it comes to their fitting.
This brand employs the one-size-fits-all policy which usually has a limited reach. I do not have an issue with Brandy Melville’s sizing so long as they have defined their audience, the peculiar people that they would love to make clothes for, and their styles.
However, Shein is not consistent in its sizing. They are not bent on making dresses in a particular size either.
Shein makes clothes in different sizes, including plus sizes and mainly small sizes. They are not true to size, so you will need to size up before you purchase a pair.
Price
Around $20 – $40, you can get a pair of Brandy Melville clothes while the average price of Shein clothing costs between $5 – $150.
Target Audience
Teenagers are perfect markets for Brandy Melville and Shein. Brandy Melville targets Gen Z’s customers, people who love shopping online and skinner demography, sort of young women while Shein targets people who follow trends and enjoy shopping online.
Brandy Melville manufactures clothing for women only, but Shein takes it further and produces a couple of fashionable wears for men and children, with women inclusive.
Quality
Shein’s clothing is of good quality for the prices at which they are purchased, but their materials are not excellent.
Brandy Melville is more expensive, but its materials and construction are of average quality. Since the cost of their items varies, in some cases, the cost is not proportionate to the cost.
The denim of Brandy Melville is a complete turn-off for me due to their one-size strategy which has low chances of fitting you properly.
However, Shein is not so unique, they have a good justification for the kind of materials they use for their creation.
Comfortability
Both retail outlets make fashionable clothes which are super comfortable. While Brandy Melville dresses can be gotten from their physical stores, while Shein’s clothing is mailed directly to customers from China, Shein is opening stores recently.
Shein does a lot of shipping since they are one of the promising fast brands in the world. They both target teenagers, people who love shopping and follow trends, but Shein goes further to produce costumes for a larger audience.
Since both brands have a great online presence, they attract a lot of people to buy their products online. Brandy Melville employs intentional models to advertise their styles.
Shein adds to strategic modeling sponsored influencer marketing. Also, they do a lot of target ads to reach their audience online.
Final Verdict
Because I love trendy clothes, I do not only feel good when I put them on, but I get a lot of nice comments from my friends and college mates. If I were to select between Brandy Melville or Shein, I would go for Shein.
Normally, I do not save a very high percentage of money on clothing because I am a student. And Shein makes beautiful dresses and accessories that I like and can get without breaking my bank.
As a worker with lots of responsibility, you can get your clothing from Shein at a reduced rate and save some money too.
When it comes to comfort and quality, Brandy Melville is average. I prefer Shein in their place since I am aware that the clothes I’m paying for are trendy, but not of the best quality and I’m paying an amount proportional to the product’s quality.
Lastly, I prefer Shein because they have a larger variety of designs, and colors and are flexible in sizes.
Conclusion
A lot of people still have doubts about ordering items online, especially when they are pretty expensive or they have been scammed before.
Their justifications are real and understandable, but if you love trends or good fashion, you may need to order one or two-styled apparel online and this implies that you have to take a risk.
You should not deprive yourself of wearing elegant designs if you have the money to pay for them. All you should do is try to pay for cheaper products first and make sure you verify that the site you are paying for is not fake.
From there, you will begin to pay for more expensive products online and this will help you to purchase more nice outfits using your credit cards and enjoy promotions like discount offers.
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