| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Apparel |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California[1] |
| Key people | Do Won Chang Founder & CEO Jin Sook Chang, Chief Merchandising Officer Linda Chang Chief Marketing Officer Esther Chang Chief Visual Officer |
| Products | Clothing, Accessories |
| Revenue | US$1.7 billion (2008)[2] |
| Employees | 6,000 (2008)[2] |
| Website | forever21.com |
Forever 21 is an American chain of clothing retailers with branches in major cities in The United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East that offers fashion and accessories for young women and men.
Forever 21's marketing image is based around made-in-the-USA merchandise produced in California. It sources its designs from hundreds of Southern California suppliers. Forever 21’s merchandise does not have uniform specifications, patterns or even sizes; these details vary by supplier.
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The chain, originally known as Fashion 21, was intended at first mostly for middle-aged women. The store was founded in Los Angeles, California in 1984 by Korean businessman Do Won Chang (Hangul: 장도원) and his wife Jin Sook Chang (Hangul: 장진숙).[3] The first Fashion 21 store opened on April 21, 1984. It was located at 5637 N. Figueroa St. in the Highland Park district of Los Angeles. The store sized at only 900 square feet (84 m2). It is still in operation and bears the chain's original name. Trendy designs seen in South Korea were sold and targeted to the Los Angeles Korean American community[4]. However, people from many other ethnicities and nationalities began noticing the trend-setting fashion designs and the store became increasingly popular. By the end of the first year sales were reported to have risen from $35,000 to $700,000. Fashion 21 eventually expanded at the rate of a new store every six months and changed the Fashion 21 brand name to its current name, Forever 21.
In 1989, Forever 21 opened its 11th store and first store located in a mall, at the Panorama Mall which is in Panorama City, California. Forever 21 increased its presence by expanding the average size to 5,000 square feet (460 m2) per store. Since then, Forever 21 has been running specialty stores in major mall locations nationwide. In 1995, the chain opened its first location outside of California, which was at Mall of the Americas in Miami, Florida.[5] Adding new stores every six months, Forever 21 had reached a total of 40 stores by 1997.
Creating its own prototype store in Northridge Fashion Center, Forever 21 has employed its proprietary design concepts to all its stores since then. By this time Forever 21 also increased its average size to 9,000 square feet (840 m2) per store in prime spots of top tier malls. In January 2010, Forever 21 opened a massive, 85,000 square feet, 2-tier store at the Los Cerritos Center in Cerritos, California, their first flagship department store location.
Forever 21 has received attention in the media[6] for printing "John 3:16" on the bottom of their trademark yellow bags. A Spokeswoman from Forever 21's LA headquarters said the Biblical quote is a "demonstration of the owners' Christian faith." (A similar practice has been maintained by the In-N-Out Burger chain, which prints the quote "John 3:16" on the bottom of some of its cups.)
The Forever 21 Retail Inc, owns and operates numerous stores in different formats. Current store operating formats are Forever 21, XXI Forever and Heritage 1981. There are many brands that originate out of the stores such as Forever 21+, Love 21 Contemporary and Maternity, Forever 21 Girls and 21 Men.
Forever 21: This original and primary store carries women’s and junior’s clothing, accessories, swimwear, lingerie, handbags, and shoes. Imitating both Korean and American fashion trends.
For Love21 (store): A french boutique styled accessory store with womens accessories, shoes, handbags, cosmetics tools and more, usually about 2,000 in size. Forever 21+ (brand): Formerly named Faith 21, this line carries womens apparel in extended sizes XL-3X/12-18. Love 21 (brand): A contemporary line for women. Their style of clothing is more suited for women 21 and older. Love 21 also houses maternity for mothers-to-be. Forever 21 Girls: Formerly known as HTG81, is the brand for girls in moving into their pre-teen sizes. 21Men: Formerly known as Heritage 1981 Mens, is completely fast fashion and suited style mens apparel at low price points.
In early 2009 Forever 21 opened 11 department store-sized locations in the United States carrying merchandise for men, women, and children, after assuming the leases of 15 Mervyns following the chain's bankruptcy filing. [4] A 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2) Forever 21 in Manhattan, in Times Square, in the space formerly occupied by the Virgin Megastore, in addition to some adjoining space, was opened June 25, 2010.[7] Later that year, Forever 21 opened a store in Bakersfield, California in the 94,000-square-foot (8,700 m2) spot that was once held by Gottschalks in the Valley Plaza.[8] On April 2, 2011 Forever 21 opened what was then their largest store in the chain at 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2) in Fresno, California at another former Gottschalks location in Fashion Fair Mall. Another Gottschalks conversion in Modesto, California at Vintage Faire Mall, opened in August of 2011, comprises 154,000 square feet (14,300 m2) over three levels, the largest store in the chain.
The first European Forever 21 store opened in Birmingham, United Kingdom on Friday 12 Nov 2010.[9] The second opened in Ireland in Dublin's Jervis Shopping Centre on November 13, 2010.
The grand opening of the London flagship store was on Wednesday 27 July 2011 with punters queuing up in the early morning. The store is located near Bond Street underground station and replaces HMV as its newest tenant. [10]
Stores are also due to open in 2011-13 in the following locations:
On Saturday 30 July, the first Forever 21 store opened in continental Europe at Rue Neuve in Brussels: the store is 3,000 sqm. The second Forever 21 store in Belgium opened at Meir in Antwerp on Saturday September 3rd 2011 and is 4,000 sqm which means it's the biggest one in Europe .
A store is going to open at La Maquinista in Barcelona, Spain, in 2011. Two stores are going to open in Vienna, Austria, in 2011 and one in Paris, France on Rivoli Street in 2012.
The expansion into Europe will see Forever 21 compete against retailers more established in the European market such as H&M, New Look, Next and Topshop/Topman.
Forever 21 has also opened in several places in Asia, such as India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.
In November 2001, factory workers producing clothing for the company called for a store boycott until working conditions and payroll improved. The lawsuit was dropped when Forever 21 paid the workers' back wages.[11] The matter was settled out of court and the company agreed to take steps to ensure that its garments were not made in sweatshops. The store later became the subject of the documentary Made in L.A. which focused on three Latina legal immigrant workers who fight for three years to win basic protections from the retailer. In 2004, under pressure from PETA, Forever 21 agreed to stop selling clothing made with animal fur.[12]
Forever 21 has also been accused of infringing on designs from other fashion brands. Recently, designer Diane von Fürstenberg has filed a lawsuit against Forever 21 for duplicating her dress designs.[13] Since that time Furstenberg has settled with the company for undisclosed terms.[14] Singer and designer Gwen Stefani has filed a federal lawsuit against the fashion megachain, claiming the retailer illegally ripped off her Harajuku Lovers designs.[15] Designer Anna Sui has also filed a lawsuit against Forever 21 alleging that Forever 21 sold and offered for sale numerous women's fast fashion clothing items bearing a striking similarity to her products featured at the most recent New York Fashion Week shows.[16]
Forever 21 has also come under fire from the South Central Farmers and other California-based activist groups in a campaign known collectively as Never Forever 21.[17] The criticism is based on Forever 21’s involvement in a proposed deal with developer Ralph Horowitz to build a warehouse and distribution center on the land that was formerly the site of the South Central Farm.[18]
Forever 21 has recently been subject of additional controversy, stemming from an interactive billboard installation in Times Square, in New York. It is alleged that Forever 21's advertising agency, space150 and director Nicholaus Goossen, copied a similar piece - created in 2009 - from London by interactive artist Chris O'Shea.[19] These allegations have led to heated exchanges on the Vimeo page showing the work between Goossen and other users, including well-known members of the interactive and new media art communities. Both space150 and Goossen have since apologized publicly on Vimeo.[20]
On August 19, 2010, a security guard at a XXI store at 6801 Hollywood Blvd assaulted and choked a deaf man, Alejandro Rea, for nearly two minutes because he did not stop at the door when the security alarms went off. Rea, who had previously been convicted twice for shoplifting, was seen on surveillance footage leaving with unpaid items and was arrested after the incident. The security guard was suspended for using excessive force. A pedestrian filmed the altercation and uploaded the video to YouTube, prompting responses from various news outlets.[21]