Employees accuse fashion giant of toxic work culture: ‘asked to rate each other’s appearance’

An Aritzia store in Vancouver, Canada

Former employees of Aritzia have opened up about the toxic work culture at the Canadian fashion giant. Employees say they had to contend with an “exploitive” and overly “high-pressure” environment in which some staff members faced shocking incidents of racism. The allegations came to light when 53 current and former Aritzia employees spoke to Business Insider about their experience with the company.

At least five employees who worked at Aritzia stores in Ontario, Canada, between 2005 and 2019 say that they were asked to rate their colleagues on their appearance. The employees said that “their managers asked them to rate their own or other’s appearance from one to 10 in daily huddles.”

“Automatically if you’re skinny, you’re not going to be below seven,” one employee alleged.

Some staff members compared working at Aritzia to suffering “psychological abuse” and said the negative culture flowed from the top-down, starting with founder Brian Hill. The Business Insider report detailed how Hill would fly “into a rage”, with some workers saying he “yelled and threw things at employees.”

Hill “ruled through fear and intimidation,” employees claimed. One former employee related a particular incident when Hill held up a pen and asked her what it was. When she replied it’s a pen, he threw it and yelled “Wrong, it’s a blue pen.”

A representative for Hill denied these allegations. “Brian is an exacting CEO, just like that of any other highly profitable global company, but he is also notably devoted to fostering the careers and growth of his employees,” the spokesperson told Business Insider. “The allegations in this story are not representative of the company culture that Brian and his leadership team at Aritzia have fostered and built.”

Shocking racism

Some Black employees claim they faced blatant racism while working at Aritzia.

One of the most shocking allegations came from a former employee who said her store manager “shoved” her and called her a “dirty African.” The employee later sued the company and the store manager.

Two other Black employees who worked at the company’s Toronto outlet said their store manager asked them for coffee “telling them to make it the colour of their skin.”

Jessica Porter and Candace Jerry are among the employees who say they were assigned tasks that White employees were not asked to do – like vacuuming, steaming or taking clothes to the sales floor. Aritzia’s spokesperson denied these allegations and said the company “has never assigned tasks to employees based on their race”.