NYC influencer accuses scandal-plagued Brandy Melville of ripping off her logo on new t-shirt: ‘They're so shameless'

New York Post

07-06-2025

A Big Apple fashion designer is accusing the scandal-plagued fast-fashion chain Brandy Melville — worn by pop star Ariana Grande and other celebs — of ripping off her western-themed logo.
'Brandy Melville stole my logo and put it all over a bunch of shirts, and we're doing some investigative research today to see if they're in store and, unfortunately, buy them, so I can get them to my lawyer,' influencer Emma DiMarco, the founder of the Brooklyn-based vintage and apparel brand 'Kissing Cowboys,' said in a May 31 Instagram video.
The clip then shows DiMarco, 29, inside of Brandy Melville's Union Square location, pulling one of its $21 red T-shirts – which bears the words 'Kissing Cowboys' in white font and a black-colored silhouette of a cowboy – off a hanger.
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'I'm, like, actually speechless. This is so insane,' DiMarco continued in the video, which has amassed nearly 175,000 views.
Brandy Melville, which launched in Italy in the 1990s before coming to the US in 2009, has repeatedly been accused of fostering a toxic environment — racial and size discrimination included — among its workers, according to reports.
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Former employees blew the whistle on workplace conditions and toxic culture in a 2024 HBO film, 'Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion.'
3 Emma DiMarco claims Brandy Melville ripped off the design she created for this flyer, and posted on Instagram last year.
Kissing Cowgirls/ Instagram
3 Brandy Melville removed the $21 t-shirt off its website this week.
Helayne Seidman
DiMarco claims the popular fashion brand has now victimized her as well, by stealing and profiting off of the design she created for a vintage pop-up she hosted in Brooklyn last year, which remains visible on her public Instagram profile.
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'They must have screenshotted the flyer and removed the cigarette from the cowboy's mouth … but the space between the letters, the letters, and the space between the cowboy's head — it's all the same,' DiMarco fumed.
'They're so shameless — that's the part that makes me really angry, is that they're basically like, 'What the f–k are you going to do about it?' DiMarco told The Post.
3 'They're so shameless – that's the part that makes me really angry,' DiMarco, who sells her own 'Kissing Cowboy'-brand merch, told The Post.
Helayne Seidman
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The fast-fashion chain removed the t-shirt from their website this week.
DiMarco is still considering taking legal action against the company, she said.
Brandy Melville did not respond to The Post's requests for comment.