'An industry problem' | Does Aritzia's 'culture of fear' prove the fashion industry needs better HR?

In an exposé from Insider, it was revealed by 53 former and current employees from the fashion company Aritzia that the brand has a toxic, “exploitative” and “high-pressure” culture, where workers felt like they were being “psychologically abused”.

Those employees stated that despite the fashion industry having a reputation of being cutthroat, working for the Canadian fashion company was particularly “gruelling”.

Many say that the toxic culture is linked primarily to Brian Hill, the founder of Aritzia, who they say generates a culture of “fear and intimidation” and publicly humiliate workers, one employee saying his “tactics” were “to essentially tear down somebody’s self-confidence, to a point where he knew he had full control over that person”.

Employees also revealed that “attractive” workers were favourited and given pay rises, while workers were evaluated based on a model entitled ‘SMPS’ which stood for ‘style, motivation, personality and smarts’. The Insider article reads: “Five people who worked at retail stores in Ontario between 2005 and 2019 said they had to rate their own - or their colleagues’ - appearances out of 10 in daily huddles, addressing where they fell short. No one was allowed to be a 10.”