It's been five years since this "news" made the rounds and sparked a minor outrage, but clothing retailer Brandy Melville is still selling "one size fits most" [1] clothes. The majority of its clothes — with a handful of exceptions — only come in one size. What's the reasoning behind this? Well, we're really not quite sure.

On the Brandy Melville website [2], most of its clothes don't come with a size selection option; instead, you're greeted with a note that the item in question fits "size XS to S." A cursory click through several random items brings up largely the same results, with one or two items (all pants or shorts) that come in two sizes, small or medium. It's pretty clear that one size doesn't fit all, and it's also pretty clear which sizes are considered the universal "default" for this brand. The models on its Instagram [3] seem to confirm it, with pictures of thin models across the board [4] and no diverse body types [5] of any kind.

It's hard to know what's behind this decision — after all, one would assume that a clothing retailer would want to attract as many customers as possible. Representatives of Brandy Melville have rarely spoken in public about it, and when they have, they tend to skirt the issue. A 2013 quote from executive Jessy Longo [6] isn't especially reassuring.

"We can satisfy almost everybody, but not everybody," Longo said, in the now-offline interview. "The one-size-fits-most clothing might turn off somebody if they don't walk into the store, but if you walk in you'll find something even if it's a bag." Given that the brand is targeted specifically at teenage girls, it's understandable that there are concerns over its size exclusivity. The brand's "one size" typically corresponds to a size zero, with waists around 24 to 25 inches. Meanwhile, the CDC's numbers in 2016 study suggested the average waist size for females between 13 and 19 years of age is 32.6 inches [7].

The Brandy Melville brand continues to be silent on its sizing, but it hasn't made any changes, either.