Forever 21 is bankrupt, again. This time actually could be forever
Forever 21 is back on the auction block.
Once a formidable fast-fashion mall staple, Forever 21’s parent company filed for bankruptcy protection late Sunday. It plans to “wind down” its U.S. operations unless it can find a buyer for the whole business or some of its parts.
The retailer has been a shell of its former self since it first filed for bankruptcy in 2019. It survived then as a zombie brand with fewer stores, but the chain has struggled to find life beyond the mall and to compete against fast-growing online rivals, including Shein and Temu that ship ultra-cheap goods from China.
“We have been unable to find a sustainable path forward, given competition from foreign fast fashion companies … as well as rising costs, economic challenges impacting our core customers, and evolving consumer trends,” Chief Financial Officer Brad Sell said in a statement.
Sell specifically called out a tax loophole used by Shein and Temu to ship clothes and accessories straight to U.S. shoppers. That enables them to avoid paying the import duties that Forever 21 and other retailers must pay when they ship goods in bulk to warehouses first. The U.S. government is now working to close the loophole.
Forever 21 — founded by Korean immigrants and long run as a family business — made it big in the early 2000s by making designer fashion accessible. It brought runway styles to mall shoppers at rock-bottom prices. Its store footprint grew fast and far, just as internet rivals began to eat its lunch.
After its 2019 bankruptcy, the chain was purchased by an unusual joint venture: Big mall operators Simon Property Group and Brookfield Property Partners teamed up with a firm called Authentic Brands Group, which buys and resuscitates dying brands such as Brooks Brothers or Nine West.
Authentic Brands’ CEO later described his foray into once-fast-now-ultrafast fashion with Forever 21 as his “biggest mistake.”
In 2023, Forever 21’s new owners tried another maneuver, signing a partnership with Shein. But losses continued, worsened by the high inflation that had shoppers tightening their clothing budgets. Court documents show Forever 21’s liabilities are now ten times bigger than its assets.
The company says its stores and website will keep running while executives figure out the chain’s future. Stores outside the U.S. are not part of the Chapter 11 filings.
PEPFAR escaped the rescission ax. But where does it stand?
Founded by George W. Bush, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief was taken out of the list of agencies that lost previously pledged funds. But its future is far from certain.
Get ready, Brazil. The ‘good mosquitoes’ are coming
Scientists are driving around in white Chevys, releasing thousands of specially engineered mosquitoes from tubes — part of a pioneering project to reduce the spread of dengue, a terrible disease.
Even megastars like Venus Williams get the health insurance blues
In the U.S., as nowhere else, health insurance and employment are deeply connected. And that means confusion can snare even elite athletes.
Taiwanese voters reject a bid to remove lawmakers from a China-friendly party
The independence-leaning ruling Democratic Progressive Party won the last presidential election, but the China-friendly Nationalists and the Taiwan People's Party have enough seats to form a majority bloc.
‘We are being driven from the land’ – after a massacre, a Nigerian village buries its dead
Another deadly overnight raid in central Nigeria left more than 100 villagers dead and hundreds displaced. Survivors in Benue State say it's part of a brutal campaign to drive Christian farming communities from their land. NPR reports from Yelwata, where residents are still counting the dead.
Fact-checking claims about a proposed hyperscale data center
The developer behind the $14.5 billion project in Bessemer has suggested residents’ concerns are based on misinformation. Here’s what we know about the project and its impacts.