A woman says she was body-shamed after a visit to an Aritzia location in Charlotte, North Carolina. Corrin Bogan (@corrinbogan) recently went inside one of the stores and received an unrelated and unwanted comment from a sales associate after asking a question. She later posted about the experience on TikTok, where her video has received more than 863,000 views. Aritzia has since responded to Bogan’s claims.
“Not the body shaming in Aritzia. And you know what? I still bought the freaking jeans,” Bogan said.
Bogan’s experience in-store
Bogan went inside Aritzia to try on some items. She ended up finding a pair of low-rise jeans that she wanted to try. She immediately noticed that the fit was not “low-rise” and felt slightly different from what she was expecting.
“ These jeans were branded as low-rise baggy, like dad jeans. I try them on. I’m looking at them. I’m like kind of liking them, but I’m like, hmm, like I feel like these are kind of higher rise,” Bogan said.
An employee approached her and asked if anything was wrong. As she tried to express her issue with the jeans, the employee interrupted her. “ I couldn’t even finish before she was like, ‘Can I be honest with you? It’s your body,'” Bogan told her viewers.
She felt astounded by the audacity of the comment and felt too stunned to speak at first.
“ I didn’t even have time to tell her. ‘No, you can’t be honest with me, stranger.’ I was simply too stunned to speak. She goes, ‘Does that make sense?’ I go, ‘no, we’re all good,’” Bogan said.
A wave of comments express similar stories
After she posted her video online, hundreds of people shared similar experiences while shopping at Aritzia, a high-end clothing brand comparable to Lululemon and other outfitters.
“I literally walked into an Aritzia and immediately was met with ‘sorry we have nothing in XL.’ I was a size 6,” said one commenter.
“Aritzia straight up feels like a 2020s grown up version of Brandy Melville,” added another commenter. For context, Brandy Melville has a history of body shaming because of its one-size clothing and harsh employment practices.
When Bogan posted the jeans she purchased in-store, many commenters quickly realized that they were, in fact, high-rise jeans. “They look 10/10 but in no way is that low rise. Or maybe my geriatric millennial brain is still processing our low rise jeans of the early 2000’s and the term has been updated,” one commenter added.
@corrinbogan not the body shaming in aritzia …. and you know what….. i still bought the freaking jeans . #aritzia #trending #bye #lol #areyoukiddingme ♬ original sound – boganc
Aritizia reaches out
Eventually, Bogan’s TikTok reached employees at Aritzia, and she received a message from the company. A customer service representative had a pleasant conversation with her about the experience.
“The individual that I spoke with was so kind and so compassionate and really made me feel seen and very heard,” Bogan said. “The feedback that I provided really was about the harm that commenting on someone’s body can do and really kind of phrasing it as like, ‘Hey, I think that this is a big gap in maybe the training that sales associates get at Aritzia.’”
The company offered to let her do some personal shopping, but Bogan said in her video that she is not interested in that right now. “I didn’t post the original video to like get free stuff. I posted that video because I really wanted to share the experience that I had and see if any other women could relate,” Bogan said.
Viewers, Aritzia shoppers, and even other brands reached out to Bogan with supportive messages. “Good for you! @Aritzia was my absolute favorite store… I’m sick over this behavior and now second guessing going there again… body shaming anyone is so gross! You handled this beautifully,” added one viewer.
Others expressed a desire for the company to change its policies and move away from what they described as a “mean-girl attitude.” Otherwise, many said they no longer want to shop there.
The Mary Sue has reached out to Aritizia and Bogan for comment.
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