A customer has blasted Australian fashion brand Kookai for an employee’s ‘shameful attitude’ after she asked if she could get a dress she liked in a larger size.
Adelle Petropoulos, from Melbourne, detailed her disappointing shopping experience after deciding to go into the clothing store ‘on a whim’ to try on some ‘cute’ outfits.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Adele’s disappointing experience with Kookai
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The make-up artist – who usually wears a size 8 top and size 12 bottom – was trying on clothes in the dressing room when she asked a saleswoman to get her a size larger of the dress she wanted to buy.
“She looked me up and down and said, ‘Doll, we don’t stock larger sizes,'” Adelle said in a viral TikTok video.
“Now, in hindsight, I should have roasted her on the spot, but I wasn’t about to rip the saleswoman over her bad attitude…so I asked for her manager.
“When I asked to speak to the manager, the sales assistant replied, ‘Well, I can recommend a few stores that have larger sizes for taller girls.’ Is she real?
However, things did not go as she had hoped when she raised her concerns with the store manager.
“I prefaced by saying, ‘I understand the sizing issue. There’s nothing you can do about it and it’s a corporate thing, I get it. Where you can control is your staff member’s attitude towards “taller women” who don’t fit your size category. I found this attitude extremely shameful, ”recalls Adele.
“I said that to the manager and I said, ‘Clothes are made to fit us, we’re not made to fit in clothes. And once you have staff who understand that concept and respect all the world around them… it’s absolutely not acceptable for you to hire people like that.
“Then the manager gave me a list of some stores I could buy in my size, which starts at the top.”
7Life has reached out to Kookai for comment.
‘I will never shop there again’
Furious at the manager’s response, Adelle swore she would never set foot in the store again.
“That’s the reason I haven’t shopped at Kookai for three years,” she said.
“I went there on a whim today and I’m never going back. I just don’t understand how you can’t respect people, especially when you’re in retail, it’ is all I ask.
“It’s 2022, come on.”
Although she feels “very comfortable” in her own skin, Adelle was particularly critical of the unacceptable behavior of the employees.
“I don’t care about body size, I don’t care about clothing size. I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m skinny, I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m larger. I’m sort of mid-level,” she said.
“My beef, although it should be with the size range, it’s not with the size range…it’s the retail assistant.”
Kookai’s Apology
After expressing her frustration on social media, Adelle received an apology from Kookai headquarters.
“We are truly disappointed that this was your experience at our store,” a Kookai spokeswoman told Adelle.
“Our customers’ in-store experience is extremely important to us and it is very discouraging to hear about your visit and your interaction with our staff, so we would like to apologize and let you know that we will be looking into this further. in detail.”
The brand asked Adelle to provide more details about the incident so they could “investigate” and “take appropriate action” – but she decided not to go any further.
“To be honest, I’m still very disappointed and disgusted with the brand,” she said.
“I don’t believe in destroying women”
“But I don’t believe in women destroying other women, I really don’t. I feel so strongly about it, no matter how I’m treated.
“I know I’m really strong and I’m not sure how I look that I would hold my own, but I will never go so far as to abuse another person’s right to work, especially someone else’s right to work. ‘another woman.
“I will always support other women in the industry no matter how I am treated.”
Adelle said she hopes the company will “sit down and think about its morals” and consider a customer’s shopping experience.
“(They need to think about these questions) from the moment they walk through the door until the very moment they leave. How they feel when they go out and how they arrived. Did we change their experience in a positive way? »
She added, “I don’t want to tear down other women in the industry. I just hope Kookai takes our experiences into account. That’s all we can do.
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