Is Forever 21 Shein's Biggest Victim Yet?
The Business of Fashion Podcast
The Business of Fashion
4.6 • 770 Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Once a dominant player in fast fashion, Forever 21 recently filed for bankruptcy for the second time in six years, marking the likely end of its run as a physical retailer. The chain, known for introducing ultra-affordable, trend-driven clothing to American malls, struggled to remain relevant as competitors like Zara, H&M, and later Shein and Temu offered faster, cheaper, and more digitally-savvy alternatives. After its initial bankruptcy in 2019, Forever 21 was acquired by Authentic Brands Group and mall operator Simon Property Group, but despite various turnaround attempts – including unusual collaborations and international relaunches – it failed to recapture its former success.
Retail editor Cathaleen Chen joins The Debrief to unpack what Forever 21’s fall says about the future of fast fashion.
Key Insights:
- Chen argues that Forever 21’s downfall is largely due to its loss of cultural cachet. “You don't see influencers peddling Forever 21 in the way that you see influencers still promoting Shein, and I think that's a huge factor. You have to spend that money to be relevant,” says Chen.
- Chen contends that fast fashion retailers like Forever 21 have always struggled with establishing a unique identity, which ultimately made it difficult for them to maintain customer loyalty. “The problem with Wet Seal, Rue 21, and now Forever 21 is that these retailers never really had any kind of identity,” she explains.
- The retailer’s failure to evolve beyond chasing transient trends has left it vulnerable to more agile competitors. “It's not about just chasing fashion, fashion, fashion the way that I think Forever 21 never got out of, the way that Shein dominates. It's about going the other direction and creating products that your customers want at a level of quality,” says Chen.
- Looking forward, success in fast fashion will require more than affordability. Chen believes future winners must combine low prices with a compelling retail experience: “There is an element of surprise and delight in that shopping experience. It can't just be cheap, affordable – it needs to offer something more.”
Additional Resources:
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the debrief from the business of fashion where each week we delve into our most popular B.O.F. Professional Stories with the correspondence we created them. I'm senior correspondent, Sheena Butler Young. |
| 0:20.0 | And I'm executive editor Brian Baskin. |
| 0:22.3 | On Sunday, Forever 21, the chain credited with, or some would say blamed for, introducing |
| 0:28.0 | fast fashion to America, filed for bankruptcy in Delaware for the second time in six years. |
| 0:33.5 | Unlike last time, there's little hope the retailer will come out the other side. |
| 0:37.6 | Forever 21 is expected to close its U.S. stores, which number in the hundreds, and if it exists |
| 0:42.6 | going forward, it will probably be as a name on licensed products sold by someone else. |
| 0:47.6 | With us today is BOF retail editor Kathleen Chen, who has been following the ups and mostly downs |
| 0:53.5 | of Forever 21. |
| 0:55.1 | Hi, Kat, and welcome to the Debrief podcast. |
| 0:57.2 | Hi, guys. Thanks so much for having me. |
| 1:00.3 | Fast fashion brands come and go. Forever 21 is not the first one to disappear from the retail |
| 1:06.3 | landscape, but I think it's fair to say this one's been hitting a little harder than most. |
| 1:11.3 | Why is that? |
| 1:12.9 | Well, the end of Forever 21 really represents the end of an era. |
| 1:19.9 | For a lot of millennials, such as myself, Forever 21 was the first fast fashion retailer to really hit the scene and to really go mainstream. |
| 1:31.6 | I think I was a sophomore in high school when a Forever 21 opened at the mall that I used to go to in Pittsburgh. |
| 1:40.3 | And before then, it was Old Navy and American Eagle. And Abercrombie, already for me, it wasn't cool anymore. |
| 1:50.7 | But Forever 21 just changed the game completely. It was like the trinniest things. All the bloggers on BlogSpot spot were shopping from Forever 21. And these were, you know, |
| 2:03.5 | adults living in these coastal cities who were shopping from Forever 21. And I was reading about |
| 2:09.9 | that fashion online. And I was able to go to that Forever 21 and buy something for $10, $15, $20, really, really chic stuff that just, you know, |
| 2:21.8 | that level of fashion just was not available to anyone before. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Business of Fashion, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Business of Fashion and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.