A Swedish fashion empire’s founder, who reached Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2023, has been accused of ‘regularly’ making employees ‘cry by yelling or belittling them.’

Matilda Djerf founded Djerf Avenue with her boyfriend Rasmus Johansson in 2019 with a focus on inclusivity and sustainability – their company reached $35 million in just four years. 

The brand says its world is ‘filled with kindness, inspiration, respect and the perfect wardrobe staples,’ according to their website.

However, Djerf’s employees have spoken out against her and said her inclusive, supportive and respectful workplace is not what it seems – in fact, quite the opposite. 

‘The company’s outward image is nothing like the reality of working here – it’s the exact opposite,’ one employee told Aftonbladet who conducted the investigation. 

‘There are times when she has lined up employees and yelled at them and said how bad they are at their job,’ said another person. 

‘People feel terribly bad. I’ve never seen so many people so broken,’ said a former employee. ‘It finally became everyday life: How many people will cry today? How many cried yesterday? Will I cry today?’ 

Many claimed to have experienced sleep problems and needed to see a psychologist during their time working there.

Employees also claimed there was favoritism within the office, right down to who was allowed to use the bathroom. 

Djerf had her own private bathroom, according to the employees, with a handwritten sign stuck on the door which said, ‘Please do not use!!’ and a love heart underneath.  

That bathroom was only allegedly used by Djerf and her ‘favorites’. The employee claimed the sign fell one day, leading someone to mistakenly use it, and it had to be scrubbed clean before she would use it again.

‘She doesn’t even want to go to the same toilet as us employees. We are not fellow human being or colleagues to her,’ the employee said.  

Djerf Avenue painted a public image of inclusivity and respect. 

These values appear to be upheld right down to her models, who Djerf claims are not edited and range in size for the benefit of her customers as well as the models themselves following her own modeling experiences. 

‘I was also doing modeling gigs when I started and was shocked at the way this world worked. One brand edited me three sizes smaller,’ she told Forbes. 

‘I seriously questioned it, knowing what these companies were showing online wasn’t what the customer was getting when they ordered the garments.’

However, employees who have spoken out said that this wasn’t the case at all behind closed doors. One employee recalled that the contractor expressed completely different values in the office: 

‘There was a time when we had a model in one of our larger sizes and when those pictures were delivered, Matilda said, “We have to reshoot this, because she looks so f***ing fat in these clothes. We can’t show that.”‘ 

‘So, with those words, that’s what we had to do. Even though we all felt: “She makes it so clear that she doesn’t stand for what she portrays outwardly.”

Another employee claimed that Djerf herself often ‘commented on people’s bodies and appearance.’ 

‘To one person, she said that her butt didn’t fill out the jeans. And to another, she said that her butt filled up the jeans too much.’ 

The seemingly ingenuine inclusivity within the brand was also said to be performed to a higher extent on social media to keep up appearances. 

‘It felt like some staff members were exploited because they had an appearance that didn’t fit the norm,’ said one. 

Another added: ‘There were some employees who were “plus size” or who had a different ethnicity that were used a lot in the company’s social media because it looked good. But it wasn’t genuine.’ 

‘Every day, there’s a psychological terror in that office,’ said one person. 

They said they would be asked, ‘Are you stupid?’ and told they were bad at their jobs, called names and yelled at. 

One person said they had never experienced a panic attack before the job at Djerf Avenue and added: ‘After the first time she yelled at me. Afterwards I was just sat there shaking… I’ve probably never been so scared of a person in my life.’

‘I was scared of Matilda. I didn’t like it when she was in the room,’ said another. 

 The interviewees claimed Djerf was condescending, unpredictable and they felt ‘constant stress.’  

Aftonbladet reached out to Djerf for an interview, which was declined.  

Just late last month, Djerf had sat down with influencer Bryony Deery and spoke of her own experiences. 

Djerf recognized the importance of her voice and actions considering her new large following and admiration. 

‘All of a sudden, I have a voice, and people actually listen to what I’m saying. I realize that okay, but I need to be the person that I wished I could look up to as a teenager,’ Djerf told Deery in their sit-down interview in Stockholm. 

Deery also expressed that she had met members of Djerf’s team, ‘who were so sweet’, and added that ‘everyone just sounds like they’re having the best time working with you guys.’ 

Djerf has told multiple outlets that she had a hard time working under a boss at previous jobs. She said to Deery in a similar fashion: ‘At every single job I had I always felt really stuck by the people above me. 

‘Like I would have an idea for like improvement or efficiency, but I could never do anything with it cuz the boss would always you know want to go like the super traditional way.’ 

‘I’m very loyal when it comes to people I work with,’ said Djerf, who was discussing the factory she continues to use for her company. 

Deery pointed out that it was incredibly ‘powerful’ for Djerf to understand every step of the way within her business after building it from the ground up and having to take on almost every role at the start.  

‘I mean today, I have a team, you know, sometimes they do things and I’m like I have no clue how you did that, and I could not help for the life of me cuz it’s just like it’s not my level of expertise and I’m so grateful,’ Djerf said.  

‘But I still know like a lot of things in the company, and I still have understanding of like okay, this customer needs this kind of help okay I can come in and I can help here.’ 

Djerf then went on to reflect on how ‘grateful’ she felt in the early days of her business when she and two other team members, who made up the company at the time, had such ‘unreal teamwork.’ 

Djerf Avenue wrote to Aftonbladet that they ‘take the information that has emerged very seriously’ and that they are ‘aware that there are shortcomings’ in their work environment.

Matilda Djerf wrote that she ‘takes the criticism very seriously.’ 

‘If any employee has felt mistreated or felt bad in their role because of my actions, that’s something I’m really sorry about and apologize for.’ 

Forbes asked Djerf how they believe they will continue building the team at Djerf Avenue. She said: ‘You have to like to work, be a problem solver, and take your own initiatives. I always say that passion is the best personality trait, and you need it to be part of a start-up company.’ 

‘It is a lot of work, and you need to like that. We have such a great team of people who share the same passion for the brand and vision. We all understand where we want to go with Djerf Avenue. So, when we’re looking for new hires, we always try to find that kind of person who likes to get their hands dirty but also has a lot of passion.’ 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Djerf Avenue for comment.