Do Won Chang was 30 in 1984 when he and his wife Jin Sook Chang opened a store near Los Angeles Heights Park and called it Fashion 21.
A team of couples who immigrated from South Korea three years ago sold clothes and outfits to teenagers and young people at almost unparalleled prices. The 900-square-foot store earned $700,000 in its first year and will become a staple in the fashion industry called Forever 21.
At its peak, Forever 21 have over 800 stores worldwide and earn billions of dollars in revenue. The brand has attracted young women in particular and helped usher in the fast-paced era of the United States, which refers to the rapid production of cheap clothing.
However, the company’s focus is coming to an end. Forever 21’s U.S. operators plan to close approximately 200 stores and headquarters in downtown Los Angeles. These actions are reportedly coming Bankruptcy filingthe second in six years.
almost 360 employees According to one Regulatory application with the California Department of Employment Development.
Representatives for Forever 21 did not respond to a request for comment.
“Forever 21’s operating company is a U.S. brand licensee, continuing to explore strategic options, including potential sales, while also reducing costs and optimizing the footprint of its stores,” a representative of Catalyst Brands, Operations owner of Forever 21, said in a statement to Bloomberg. “The effort is underway and there is no final decision on the outcome of the process.”
Industry experts say the fall of Forever 21 to a retail pioneer is almost irrelevant, driven by multiple missteps, including too fast expansion, failure to keep up with the rapid changes in fast fashion trends and growing competition among cheap online retailers.
“The original owners are really good at what they do, so they accelerate at a twist,” said Nicole Craig, a professor at the Arizona State University Institute of Design and Commodity and a former 21 company employee. “They have been very successful for a long time, but sometimes it’s hard to take a teenage brand and make it bigger.”
Craig was a senior buyer for Forever 21 and later worked with IT as a private supplier until the company first filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
As part of the bankruptcy process, the company’s intellectual property is Co-obtained It consists of real brand groups and shopping mall operators Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners. Forever 21 is one of Simon and Brookfield’s largest tenants.
Shopper Cristina Blade was the most recent purchase in 2011 at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
To cause losses, Forever 21 can pursue another bankruptcy filing involving the sale of assets or the liquidation of the remaining store, Bloomberg reported.
Forever 21 currently has 58 locations In California, several in Los Angeles County.
Most of the stores in Santa Monica Place were empty on Friday afternoons, with some of the customers taking advantage of closing sales that could enjoy up to 40% off.
Starting from his humble beginnings at Highland Park, Forever 21 expanded rapidly in the U.S. and abroad, with revenue peaking at $4.4 billion in 2015.
With large, now discontinued department stores such as Mervyns went bankrupt in the early 2000s, Forever 21 actively entered these spaces.
“There are a lot of huge retail space that suddenly becomes available,” Craig said. “In hindsight, this may not be a good move. The reality is that we don’t have enough business.”
In its heyday in the 2010s, Forever 21’s chief competitors were Swedish fashion retailers H&M and Zara, owned by Spanish multinational retailer Inditex. Although Forever 21 carved a niche for girls in the market, its specificity was quickly limited due to its failure to attract older customers.
“The difference is that Forever 21 is actually a teenage brand, and H&M and Zara aren’t,” Craig said. “It’s hard to change the public’s perception.”
Competition among online retailers continues to rise
Forever 21 faces fierce competition from online-only retailers, including Temu and other emerging brands such as Edikted, which offer more products at lower prices. In 2023, Forever 21 announced a partnership with Singapore-based fast fashion retailer Shein, which will carry Shein products in its stores and work with major competitors.
Fashion Nova is another Los Angeles-based fast fashion retailer that operates primarily online and has also become the Forever 21 customer base.
“The problem is that Shein and Temu became fundamental leaders in fast fashion,” said Ilse Metchek, former president of the California Fashion Association. “Given that they have to pay rent, they can never match the price to the online price.”
Forever 21 doesn’t have enough investment in advertising and online sales, Metchuck said. It also failed to build relationships with influencers who can attract social media to young shoppers.
“Today’s teenagers have moved on. They will leave a legacy of their former giants from nowhere,” she said.
Some chains rebounded by creating new names to attract new customer bases. Craig said retail chain owners are mostly retail cities outside the retail city that sell to young people, opening anthropology in 1992 to provide a place where young shoppers can graduate.
Similarly, Victoria Secret created a pink brand that serves young customers without sacrificing the mature reputation of the original brand. Abercrombie & Fitch is back from the edge, too.
Industry analysts say that for Forever 21 progress, it may have to change its name and image.
“Action 21 is a brand used by the previous generation,” said Roger Beahm, professor of marketing and director of the retail learning lab at Wake Forest University. “Shoppers today want their own brand, they want their identity.”
Popularity Fast fashion – widely considered unsustainable and environmentally harmful – also fell completely, and the public awareness of Forever 21 was hit. Bad reputation.
“H&M and Zara are still seen as fast fashion, but they have been able to escape some daggers that hit 21 forever,” Craig said. “Fast fashion is not what most customers want right now.”
Beahm said shoppers also have different relationships with brick-and-mortar stores and malls in 2025. Before the pandemic, shopping malls were places for teenagers to socialize, eat and shop. Nowadays, malls aren’t that popular now, he said, as all generations are used to shopping online.
“Even where the store is, it has been a barrier to expanding their appeal,” Beahm said.
Forever 21 also expands its customer base by making other attempts to provide male and child options for young women’s clothing. But doing so, they dilute the original focus of the brand.
“War won in the hearts of consumers,” he said. “Forever 21 no longer has the heart and mind that can reach its original prospects. I think it’s almost impossible to get back there from where it is now.”
