'FOREVER 21: Nothing Is Forever' by Retail Archaeology, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

I closed Marche du Nain Rouge, history and revelry by telling my readers, "Stay tuned for either an evergreen post I can share in April, no fooling, or the stats for the 14th year of this blog." I decided that I should wait until Wayback Wednesday to post last year's stats, so I'm opting for the post worth sharing next month by revisiting Forever 21 files for bankruptcy and will close all U.S. stores, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse. Watch FOREVER 21: Nothing Is Forever | Retail Archaeology, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.

In this episode of Retail Archaeology we a take a look at Forever 21. They just filed for bankruptcy and are closing all of their stores.

While Erik repeated that blaming online shopping in general and Amazon in particular is a lazy explanation for brick-and-mortar chains failing, he acknowledged that competition with Shein and Temu is a major reason why Forever 21 declared bankruptcy this time. He also repeated what I wrote just before Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy the first time and repeated in 2020.

As an environmentalist, I probably should be more opposed to fast fashion than I am; as Newsweek reported three years ago, Fast Fashion Is Creating an Environmental Crisis.

Americans are blithely trashing more clothes than ever. In less than 20 years, the volume of clothing Americans toss each year has doubled from 7 million to 14 million tons, or an astounding 80 pounds per person. The EPA estimates that diverting all of those often-toxic trashed textiles into a recycling program would be the environmental equivalent of taking 7.3 million cars and their carbon dioxide emissions off the road.

Yikes! On the one hand, replacing Forever 21 with a clothing outlet that produces more sustainable clothing would be an improvement. On the other, that's not likely to happen. Instead, until Americans, especially young women, change their fashion tastes, they will just buy fast fashion online and more malls will be stuck with empty anchors and other stores, creating more dead mall[s]. Sigh.

I quoted this passage then elaborated on two of its points in Vox explains 'The lies that sell fast fashion'.

I have become more opposed to fast fashion and Americans have apparently accelerated their acquisition of cheap clothing, a trend being pushed by new chains I hadn't even heard of then, Shein and Temu, and haven't mentioned until now, through a social media platform, TikTok, I wouldn't mention until 2020. Then, I was concerned about TikTok's capacity to monitor users on behalf of China and its ability to misinform, which are why I don't use it, despite its promotion of dance, a phenomenon I can watch on YouTube shorts, thank you very much. I didn't think enough about it as an advertising medium affecting Americans' shopping habits beyond convincing young people to shop local. Now I am. That's another reason to be suspicious of the platform.

TikTok ended up being banned in the U.S., but returned after Hoover Cleveland's inauguration. I don't know if that's a good thing, like ending Daylight Saving Time and ending penny production probably could be, but at least it happened.

That's it for Forever 21 until either or both Company Man and Bright Sun Films produce a video about its second bankruptcy. Stay tuned for another post worth sharing in April next.