Forever 21 is not so Forever

The iconic teen chain will file for bankruptcy due to the physical shift of online shopping.

Your 13-year-old self is probably crying right about now. Every teenage girls favorite store will be filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as the company has to deal with low sales due to online competition. Forever 21 will have to close 178 stores in the USA as well as 47 global.

“Any potential paths we are considering are meant to strengthen Forever 21 and does NOT mean Forever 21 is going out of business,” Forever 21 CEO and founder Do Won Chang stated. “We will continue to operate, providing customers with great service and the curated merchandise they love and expect from Forever 21.”

As a Forever 21 customer, I can’t say I’m surprised. When I was in middle school, Forever 21 seemed like Heaven. I mean it was cheap AND cute. However, if you walk into any Forever 21 store today you can definitely see why they're going bankrupt. In fashion I like to think simple is good. Forever 21, seems to think different though. This in my opinion is the reason for their failure.

Brands like Fashion Nova, Prettylittlething, and Shein have replaced Forever 21 with their low prices and new trends. Combining influencer marketing and their online shopping deals, the typical female consumer will choose online shopping over your traditional physical shopping. For the past 3 years I’ve personally stopped shopping in stores. I mean from the lines, messy stores, and having to actually leave my home…. Yeah, no thanks. One of my favorite stores, Fashion Nova ships in 2 days, so that's a game changer. With the times changing, Forever 21 definitely should have changed their models to keep up as well.

Forever 21 has launched several collabs with licensed logos from Hot Cheetos to the US Postal Service that have fallen flat with consumers. I mean come on, were asking for more CROP TOPS not shirts with Cheetos attached. Can I please talk to their designers? I think the problem is that they went into ventures and business without looking into what their consumers really wanted. The bankruptcy clearly comes to no surprise for me. Other popular fashion franchises like Charlotte Rousse, LF, and Barneys have gone through similar situations. They’ve had to close their doors due to the online shopping craze. This is definitely a lesson to other stores and just goes to show how trends are always changing.