Topshop pulls 'ridiculous' mannequins after one shopper's Facebook rant
A British shopper has forced a change in Topshop’s use of "ridiculous" tall and skinny mannequins after she shared her distaste of the practise on the brand’s Facebook page.
Sharing an image of a mannequin at the brand’s Bristol store, Laura Berry said she was “calling out Topshop” for its “lack of concern for a generation of extremely body conscious youth”.
In a lengthy Facebook complaint she said: “As you are aware, the year is 2015. A time when I like to believe we are conscious of the harsh unrealities often imposed on us by the fashion industry (the 90's is famous for its skinny runway models). Every day I am surrounded by strong women and men who struggle with the daily battle of body image.
“Young women aspire to the somewhat cult image your store offers. Which I'm sure you're aware by your sales figures and hashtags on Instagram. Yet not one mannequin in your store showed anything bigger than a size 6. Intact I'm not even sure the one in the picture is even that. So today, I'm calling you out Topshop.”
[Read the full post in the Facebook post below].
The brand responded: “The overall height (187cm) is taller than the average girl and the form is stylised to have more impact in store. As the mannequins are solid fibreglass, their form needs to be of certain dimensions to allow clothing to be put on and removed easily; this is therefore not meant to be a representation of the average female body.
"That said, we have taken yours and other customers' opinions and feedback on board and going forward we are not placing any further orders on this style of mannequin.
"The views of our customers are extremely valuable and we apologise if we have not lived up to the levels of service that we aim to deliver."
As a result of the discourse, Topshop stated that it will no longer order the mannequins and will phase out their use in store for more accurate depictions of its shoppers.