Caroline Petrow-Cohen, Los Angeles Times
Do Won Chang was 30 years old in 1984 when he and his wife, Jin Sook Chang, opened a shop in the Los Angeles district of Highland Park and called him Fashion 21.
The husband and wife team, who emigrated from South Korea three years earlier, sold clothes and clothes to teenagers and young adults at almost unbeatable prices. The 900 square feet store reported $ 700,000 in revenues in the first year and would turn into a must -by on the fashion scene known as Forever 21.
At its peak, Forever 21 has operated more than 800 stores worldwide and earned billions of income. The brand has called in particular young women and has helped inaugurate the era of fast fashion in the United States, which refers to the rapid production of cheap clothes.
The time of the company under the spotlight is coming to an end. The American operator of Forever 21 plans to close around 200 stores as well as its head office in downtown Los Angeles. The measures would have been part of a next bankruptcy deposit, the second in six years.
Nearly 360 employees working at the head office will be dismissed from April, including the financial director, according to a regulatory file with the Californian employment development department.
The representatives of Forever 21 did not respond to requests for comments.
“The Forever 21 operating company, which is the brand’s licensee in the United States, continues to explore strategic options, including a potential sale, while reducing costs and optimizing the footprint of its store,” said a representative of the owner of the operations of Forever 21, Catalyst Brands in a statement in Bloomberg. “The efforts are underway and no final decision concerning the outcome of the process has been made.”
The fall of Forever 21 to almost the relevance on the part of the Pioneer retail was motivated by several false steps, in particular by developing too quickly, not facing rapid changes in rapid fashion trends and the growing competition of cheap online retailers, said industry experts.
“The original owners were really good at what they did and they are accelerating at the speed of the channel,” said Nicole Craig, a professor at Arizona State University Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and former Forever 21 business employee. “They have been very successful for a long time, but sometimes it can be difficult to take a brand for adolescents and to enlarge it.”
Craig worked as a principal buyer to Forever 21 and then worked with him as a private supplier until 2019, when the company filed for the first time.
As part of the bankruptcy process, the intellectual property of the company was acquired jointly by Authentic Brands Group and operators of Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners. Forever 21 was one of the largest tenants in Simon and Brookfield.
For rod losses, Forever 21 can continue another bankruptcy deposit which would involve the sale of assets or the liquidation of the remaining stores, reported Bloomberg.
Forever 21 currently has 58 locations in California, several of which in the County of Los Angeles.
The Santa Monica Place store was mainly empty on Friday afternoon, with a few customers taking advantage of the sales fence of up to 40% reduction.
A wave of growth in shopping centers
Since its humble beginnings in Highland Park, Forever 21 has grown rapidly in the United States and abroad, the revenues of the company culminating at $ 4.4 billion in 2015.
Like department stores, now missing, like Mervyns, made their doors in the early 2000s, Forever 21 moved aggressively to these spaces.
“There were many huge retail spaces that suddenly became available,” said Craig. “With hindsight, it was probably not a big decision. The reality is that we did not have enough business. »»
During its peak in the 2010s, the main competitors of Forever 21 were the Swedish fashion retailer H&M and Zara, which belongs to the Spanish multinational retailer Inditex. Although Forever 21 has dug a niche on the teenage market, its specificity quickly became limiting because it failed to attract older customers.
“The difference is that Forever 21 was really considered a teenage brand, unlike H&M and Zara,” said Craig. “It can be very difficult to change the perception of the public.”
Increasing competition of online retailers
Forever 21 faces strong competition from online retailers only, including TEMU and other emerging brands such as EDIKTED, which offer more products at a lower price. In 2023, Forever 21 announced a partnership with the Singapore-based Fast-Fashion retailer, Shein in which he would carry Shein products in his stores, uniting with a main competitor.
Fashion Nova, another rapid fashion retailer based in Los Angeles who operates mainly online, has also reduced Forever 21 customers.
“The problem was that Shein and Temu became fundamental leaders in rapid fashion,” said Ilse Metchek, former president of California Fashion Assn. “There was no way that Forever 21 prices, since they had to pay the rent, correspond to online prices.”
In addition, Metcheck said Forever 21 has not invested sufficiently in advertising and online merchandise. Nor has it established relationships with influencers who could attract young buyers on social networks.
“Today’s teenagers have evolved,” she said about Forever 21. “This will be part of the history of the fast fashion industry. They will leave an inheritance of the way they started from nowhere in the giant that they were in the past. »»
Some channels have rebounded by creating a new name to please new customers. The owners of the Urban Outfitters retail chain of sale, which takes place mainly for young adults, opened anthropology in 1992 to provide a place where young buyers could obtain, said Craig.
Likewise, Victoria Secret has created the Rose brand to serve young customers without sacrificing the mature reputation of the original brand. Abercrombie & Fitch also returned from the edge.
For Forever 21 to continue, he should probably change his name and image, said industry analysts.
“Forever 21 was the brand that the old generation has used,” said Roger Beahm, marketing professor and director of retail learning laboratories at Wake Forest University. “Today’s buyers want their own brand, they want their own identity.”
The popularity of rapid fashion – largely considered to be non -sustainable and detrimental to the environment – has also dropped considerably, taking a blow on the public perception of Forever 21. Other important brands have started sustainability initiatives to fight against its poor reputation.
“H&M and Zara are still considered a quick fashion, but they were able to escape some of the daggers who struck Forever 21,” said Craig. “Quick fashion is simply not what most customers are looking for.”
Buyers in 2025 also have a different relationship with brick and mortar stores and shopping centers, said Beahm. Before the pandemic, shopping centers were a place where adolescents socialize, dine and shop. Now, with all generations accustomed to online purchases, shopping centers are not as popular with a destination, he said.
“Even when stores are located have been a handicap for them in terms of expanding their appeal,” said Beahm.
Forever 21 has made other attempts to expand their customers by offering men and children’s options in addition to clothes for young women. But in doing so, they diluted the original objective of their brand, said Beahm.
“War is won and lost in the consumer’s mind,” he said. “Forever 21 is no longer able to reach the heart and mind of their original perspective. In my opinion, coming back there where they are is almost impossible. »»
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