The rise and decline of fast-fashion clothing brand Forever 21 seemingly happened in a blink of an eye. The company’s rapid growth and success was unable to make up for its 2019 claim of bankruptcy and sell-out. Online shopping, competing fast-fashion brands (Shein, Uniqlo and Poshmark) and high rental costs would eventually lead to Forever 21’s demise with a reported 32% drop in global sales in 2018, consequently leading to a filing of bankruptcy (Business Insider, 2019).
If you asked 12-year-old me what her favorite brand is, she’d likely tell you that it’s Forever 21.
Yet today, I don’t think there’s any angle that I could look at Forever 21 and be able to view them as socially or ethically responsible. Fast-fashion is an environmental destroyer and leading pollutant on the planet. However, after recent reconstruction and focus on social and sustainable responsibilities, I’m intrigued to see what improvements, if any, have been made by Forever 21.
A webpage labeled “Social Responsibility’‘ has been designated on Forever 21’s website to break down its efforts towards creating a better planet. The main areas of focus include:
- Protecting the Environment
- Workers Rights & Protection
- Ethical Sourcing
- Charity Programs
Forever 21 claims that its biggest focus as of late (2020) is to prove its sustainability efforts, which can be found at the very bottom of its website. There is little-to-no additional information, external links or really anything to back up the claims. Forever 21 is a daily, active user of social media, but nothing gets posted about its good deeds or efforts towards building a better planet.
If you’re ever shopping at Forever 21, you might notice that the basic clothing items (tank tops, t-shirts, leggings, etc.) are now tagged with “Organically Grown Cotton,” with no further interpretation or information as to what that means or where it comes from. No social media posts exist about this effort, and nothing can be found on their website about these efforts.
Forever 21 fails to provide what their consumers want the most: transparency.
As a young adult, I worked at Forever 21 and enjoyed it as a part-time job while a full-time student. Reflecting back on that time now, I’ve come to understand that many poor practices there were also common practice. The organizational structure was incredibly poor and left most feeling micromanaged, underpaid and overworked for little compensation. Feeling this way reflecting on my time as a retail employee only makes me feel awful for the workers on the other side of the world working in unimaginable conditions.
Forever 21’s legal history is a bit lengthy, diving into different controversies such as employee and worker safety, copyright infringement and labor laws. They have been reported taking artists’ work on social media and selling graphic t-shirts without any compensation or recognition. Every so often, stories emerge in the media covering topics like sweatshops, child labor and poor, unsafe working conditions and Forever 21’s connection to them. I guess the one good thing about Forever 21 is that they don’t use fur…but they still continue to use wool and exotic animal hair.
I wanted to give Forever 21 the benefit of the doubt and acknowledge the efforts they have made towards becoming a more environmnentally and ethically-conscious brand. It’s clear that Forever 21’s sudden interest in these topics following their bankruptcy, sell-out and downsizing are only out of effort to make money. Brands like Forever 21 are able to get away with promoting their good deeds and efforts because the legality around using misleading language in marketing is limited.
Through and through it is undeniably clear that Forever 21 has gone “sustainable” in an effort to stay relevant and in return, make more money. It’s all been surface-level efforts that don’t exceed beyond that.
In a world where fast fashion continues to strive (oftentimes at the cost of the environment and worker’s welfare), Forever 21 is just not getting it.
References:
Benton-Collins, K. (2021, December 2). How Ethical Is Forever 21? Good On You. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-forever-21/
Ciment, S. (2020, February 3). Forever 21 is selling to a group of buyers for $81 million. Here’s how it went from a fast-fashion powerhouse to bankruptcy and a troublesome future. Business Insider. Retrieved December 11, 2021, from https://www.businessinsider.com/forever-21-history-success-to-bankruptcy-reports-2019-9
Forever 21. (2020). Social Responsibility. https://www.forever21.com/us/socialresponsibility/socialresponsibility.html
Melissa Conlon 
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