Pretty Little Thing's Clean Girl Rebrand is Stirring up Controversy

 When I first committed to shopping for clothes primarily online, I relied on a handful of online stores as my primary go-to websites.  Pretty Little Thing (PLT) was always on my list of stores to visit.  Perhaps I was influenced by the Love Island winners that were awarded large PLT campaigns after finding love on a reality dating show. Heck, they even granted the coveted role of Creative Director to Molly Mae, the most popular Love Island UK contestant of all time

Pretty Little Thing has experienced tremendous success in the last decade thanks to the popularity of club wear that became a major style trend. In 2019, PLT made its first New York Fashion Week appearance featuring an exclusive collaboration with rapper Saweetie.  The show opened with Saweetie in a sheer sparkly mini-dress.  Following Saweetie's performance, Little Kim was introduced to the stage wearing a copper robe/coat tied at the waist allowing her undergarments to peek through.

The BBL aesthetic finally made it to the biggest fashion stage in the world and Pretty Little Thing was the brand that ushered it in.       The show itself featured barbie pink spandex pants, printed bodysuits, hot pink satin dresses and other fun colorful, fun pieces.      

ad creative from PLT's yesteryear

Several years later, things began to take a turn for the worst. In January 2024, Pretty Little Thing experienced a steep revenue decline along with a drop in active customers from 64 million to 6 million.  A PLT spokesperson attributed the loss of their customer base to inflation and "cost of living challenges."  While I do agree that inflation has impacted customer spending,  there are other factors that contributed to this drastic decline in business.

A post pandemic world saw a shift in trends that once had people in a chokehold. For instance, with much of the world working from home, we weren't wearing as much makeup as before.  As a result, buying habits shifted from a focus on makeup to skincare.  We saw brands like Morphe closing their brick and mortar stores and filing for bankruptcy.  

PLT's famous pink branding

Fashion also experienced a huge disruption around that time.  People weren't going out as much which diminished the demand for club outfits.  The pendulum begun to swing from bright colors and designs that says "look at me when I walk into the room" to understated colors and simple silhouettes.  It seemed like 90's minimalism was making its way back to the mainstream.  This time, minimalism was strongly associated with the quiet luxury trend that was gaining popularity.

Way before BBL fashion became a mainstream trend, the only place in my city that sold cut out & see through dresses were at stores that exotic dancers would frequent for their work attire and weekend wear.  That was ages ago.  Eventually form fitting cut out dresses was so mainstream that it became somewhat difficult to find dresses without cutouts on popular fast fashion websites. The "baddie aesthetic" became the most prevalent fashion trend for young women.

 

Trends to go from one side of the spectrum to the other.  Hence why we experienced the reemergence of quiet luxury/minimalism on the heels of the popularity of websites like Fashion Nova, Pretty Little Thing, and SHEIN. 

Quiet luxury is this idea that "true wealth" isn't flashy.  The term "old money" is often associated with quiet luxury.  There's this belief that people with massive net worth don't need to display their wealth via their clothing. Old money is said to elevate quality over flair. 

The quiet luxury aesthetic caught fire over on TikTok which is the new birthplace of modern trends. Consumer spending dollars follow trends so it makes sense that Pretty Little Thing took drastic action to address their falling revenue numbers with a complete and total overhaul. 

PLT's old logo vs the new look

When I visited the newly rebranded PLT store I was taken a back.  There was no sign of the signature pink color scheme that Pretty Little Thing is known for.  Most of the items for sale are tan, black, brown, grey or dark blue.  Long gone are the sparkly bright colored clothes and bold prints like the looks featured in their 2019 NYFW runway show.

As expected, there's been some discourse around the meaning of this rebranding.  Is this merely a company that's trying to attract new customers and boost sales? Or is this signaling an overall shift in the idea that "conservative dress" is making a comeback. While some are excited to find clothing options that aren't crop tops or clubwear aesthetic, others see this shift as a signal marker for the struggling economy and a lean towards conservatism. To others, the lack of color options are a bit reminiscent of how people dressed in depressionary eras.  

This rebrand is very polarizing to some of PLT's customer base.  If Pretty Little Thing experiences a boost in revenue and profit as a result of their redesign, then maybe the consumer market is eager to transition out of the flashy streetwear into something a bit more...understated.  But, for now, this rebrand is causing a lot of conversation and many of the opinions aren't that positive. Their core customer feels like their favorite brand has abandoned them without warning.  

Time will tell if this business decision will pay off for Pretty Little Thing.  Thankfully, for those who aren't impressed with PLT's new style aesthetic, fast fashion brands still exist that offer affordable clothes for different occasions.  It'll be interesting to see if similar clothing brands follow PLT's lead.  This rebrand might be a one off event but if  PLT's competitors follow suit, that could mean the death of the BBL fashion trend....at least for now.