What to Know
A group of women on social media are calling out popular athletics brand Gymshark for a recent collaboration event. The brand is pairing up with the doll brand Bratz to create a line of gym wear that reflects the flashy “bratitude” of the characters. Many Millennial and Gen Z women remember playing with or collecting the dolls, and expressed excitement over the collaboration.
However, after a pop-up event that took place in Miami to promote the line back in June 2026, some people believed that the line wasn’t really as interested in promoting women’s empowerment as they claim to be.
They didn’t believe the event was promoting an appropriate brand of feminism.
@whatzaraloves6 Thank u @carleigh for posting screenshots because the posts got taken down AS I FILMED THIS and I hadn’t screenshot yet. Let me know what you think because the attendees look like they had a great time ✨🥹 #gymshark #commodityfeminism #bratzgymshark ♬ Piano famous song Chopin Deep deep clear beauty – RYOpianoforte
According to several TikTok accounts, the issue was tied to a social media post made to celebrate the event. Over a picture of women lifting weights during the event, the brand wrote “60% of U.S. women feel like gyms are male-dominated. We wanted to change that…”
TikTok user Carleigh, whose handle is @estrogym, commented on the since deleted post, sharing that gyms should be more “inclusive.”
However things went south as she noticed there was a makeup station, fluffy pink and purple weights, and a section that said “Baddie Building” as well as “Look hot, lift heavy,” two slogans used to promote the collaboration.
Whatzaraloves, another TikTokker, used Carleigh’s original video as a template to call the event “such a failed attempt at female empowerment and a perfect example of commodity feminism.”
“This is so disrespectful I can’t even describe,” one commenter wrote on Carleigh’s post.
One of Zara’s commenters wrote “This is actually insulting.”
Many women were disappointed with the effort made for the clothing.
When the collab between Gymshark and Bratz was first announced about two months ago, women were quick to offer their critiques. In the Reddit community for fans of the brand, someone posted screenshots of the social media post.
The poster found the collaboration “disappointing,” they said. “I don’t see Bratz in this. Looks like every other drop,” they wrote. The OP went on to call the brand “the fashion nova of the fitness industry.”
“This is so boring. Not giving Bratz at all. Bratz have bold patterns and cuts. What rebranding is this,” one commenter asked.
“Confused how this is anything to do with bratz,” someone else wrote.
“No cheetah print? No patterns or sparklies? At least give us some jewel tones or bratz logos or SOMETHING.”
“We’re the girls with the passion for… nothing? What is this?”
The brand shared on social media that they would be redesigning the entire Bratz line. According to the post, the Bratz 2.0 collaboration will feature “even more Bratitude.”
Gymshark did address the negative feedback from the event.
“The research of our community was clear – the majority of women still feel gyms are male dominated, so we wanted to make a gym that was both female-led and reflected our partnership with Bratz,” a spokesperson for the company told The Tab.
“The pop-up was designed specifically around the Bratz collaboration, with the design leaning into both Bratz’s own playful identity, and Miami specifically. It’s not how we show up at our other events across the globe. That said, we take feedback from our community seriously, and we always listen to what’s being said. It will certainly shape how we show up next time.”
READ NEXT: 15 of the Biggest & Most Embarrassing Celebrity Product Fails
