AN EXPLORATION OF PLT’S REBRAND
SO… WHAT’S WITH ALL THE DRAMA?
Diners at Nobu are dropping their chopsticks at the table. Parents are so distracted, they are being screamed at by the annoying P.E. teacher that runs carpool pickup. My friends can’t even pick their outfits out anymore.
Ok, I’m being dramatic. But the fashion girlies are defo freaking out. Let’s look at why.
Before rebrand, left: PLT’s infamous pink unicorn icon
Post rebrand, right: Emblem with moody maroon and cream lettering
Pretty not sustainable
In order to understand why everyone is so pissed, let’s take a look at pre-rebrand PLT. The Boohoo group owns Pretty Little Thing, and their track record is less than satisfactory. According to the Environmental Audit Committee, Boohoo Group’s subsidiaries are among the UK’s least environmentally friendly clothing brands. Wow. Shitty! PLT used to be the budget-friendly girly’s one-stop shop for clubbing, rave, and bar outfits. And when I say budget-friendly, I mean, like, sometimes less than $10 for a dress. Because of these almost comically low prices, one can imagine where this leaves the people behind the scenes — factory workers. And that is with little to nothing. Charging that little for a low-quality piece of clothing leaves a company with no room to adequately pay any of its employees. According to The Guardian, workers who were making clothes for PLT were being paid $60.55 a month in some Pakistani cities. Not to mention, majority of PLT’s clothing is made from Polyester, a synthetic fabric, which takes an extensive amount of time to decompose and releases significant carbon emissions during production. So basically: PLT is a disaster for both human rights and the environment.
knowing this…
So why is everyone pissed? Unfortunately, PLT’s lack of sustainability practices isn’t actually even the source of everyone’s anger. What’s vexing everyone is a simple style change. Previous shoppers from all over social media have been complaining about the brand now becoming “boring” and “basic”, as well as annoyance with the price, which has gone up even though quality has not. Shock.
A deeper dive
In our treacherous political climate, it is not shocking to me that TikTok users are attributing conservatism as one of the pushes behind the rebrand. My for you page has been taken over by leftist fashion girlies who are claiming this is because of the “tradwife movement” (which I had literally never heard of until watching these videos) and the rise of more extreme, sexist right-wing propaganda we are seeing an epidemic of, especially with tr*mp (no, I won’t capitalize his name) and his goons in office. Don’t get me wrong, I was raised by two lawyers and am down for a political chat anytime. But is this take a touch dramatic? Not to diminish the critical thinking skills of those who are pissed off with our country right now (rightfully so, and the same), but I wonder if this is becoming overanalyzed by social media. I do agree that we are heading to a scary place and that we are seeing scary propaganda trying to bring us back to the 50s. But I’m not so sure that PLT is a direct reflection of this problem.
pretty little trends
Basics and essentials are becoming popular again — thank god. Are the people finally realizing you need the founding fathers (a plain white tee, a good ole’ pair of jeans, etc) to create any good outfit, instead of purchasing something new every 2 seconds? We can only hope. Anyway, in my humble opinion, PLT is just trying to visually mimic brands like House of CB, OddMuse, and Molly-Mae's Maebe to become more trendy. They’re trying to follow the trends, but the problem is, that they will never really be competing with these brands due to a severe lack of quality. Unless by some miracle, PLT decides to become ethical, (which I have serious doubts will ever happen) quality-wise, they will still be competing only with brands like Shein, H&M, and Uniqlo. Audience-wise, I believe this switch in aesthetic will move them up to visually compete with Urban Outfitters and Zara. And truly, maybe that’s all they wanted with their old-money vibe. And by the way, shame on Kelly Rutherford for showing up for this BS. Lily Vanderwoodsen would NEVER. The way she brought a f*cking Birkin to the launch says enough in terms of irony. Because yes, the average PLT customer totally has a Birkin. Thanks, Kelly.
The main message here: F*ck fast fashion, and f*ck PrEtTy LiTtLe ThInG.
