Forever 21 Declares Bankruptcy – Has Fast Fashion Hit a Wall? [OPINION]

In a perfect world, we would walk into our favorite stores and purchase pieces at a reasonable price with the benefit of having it last longer than just a few weeks. This creates that magical combination of quality AND quantity. However, in a realistic world, we (college students especially) work with what we can get, and over the years this shopping mentality driven by trendy clothes at low prices, has molded the industry of fast fashion.

Changing the Fashion Game

It is no secret people want their finger on the pulse of the fashion realm. Whether it’s shopping the latest trends or setting new ones, there is an appeal to having your style noticed by others. For these reasons, chain stores thrive with their methods of speed and accessibility, or at least I thought… Forever 21 has recently announced the closing of roughly 178 US stores as they file for bankruptcy and suddenly, the clothing emporium known for targeting young customers is no more.

The business model, started by founders Do Won Chang and Jin Sook Chang, was meant to be deeply rooted in mass-produced pieces easily attainable for those on a budget. However, what the founders didn’t predict is the evolution in consumer-apparel relationships. The widespread failure of Forever 21’s empire is a sign of fast fashion coming to an end because the priorities of fashion are changing and let me tell you, this change is refreshing. The values taking precedence reflect consumer attitudes and as an avid young shopper myself, I can relate to the desire of more sustainable efforts. It’s about feeling as though the pieces that call your closest home have value and get you excited about your wardrobe.

At this point in time, when people hear the conversation of fast fashion not being in existence for much longer, it doesn’t leave a frightening echo behind because it’s a true statement. Close your eyes and picture the younger consumer, this is someone who wants to spend more money on higher quality clothes from a store with sustainability at the heart of their pieces. It’s no longer about producing the cheapest product in the quickest amount of time. Instead, people want to wear their values on their sleeve (literally), and they make this a priority in the brands they shop from. This new and improved shopping mindset is like a breath of fresh air and I’m here for it!

A New Era Begins…

As a current employee at Anthropologie, I am fully immersed in the value mindset driving retail for young generations and beyond. By having a front row seat to the buying experience, I am no stranger to the importance of consumer-apparel relationships. Recently, I had the pleasure of ringing up items for a young woman who was shopping with her husband and as she purchased a $70 cotton tee, she explained to me how willing she was to invest in the shirts from our store because they were top quality. Speed is what signifies fast fashion, but at the end of the day, customers want pieces that will last and signify the status of a higher condition. When one invests in something, especially a wardrobe, it becomes a valuable part of one’s identity because they invest in oneself. This is the model fashion is being built on and in order to survive, this is the model companies must get onboard with product wise and engagement wise.

It could be said that purchasing clothes at a lower cost will more than likely not die out because consumers are enabled by methods that allow them to save, but there is no denying retail is re-positioning itself in the best way. Therefore, how the customer is understood has been adjusted and capturing the latest trends through factory produced clothing is no longer appealing to the shopper’s eye. According to Global News, there’s a mega trend pulling people away from wastefulness and pushing them more towards sustainable shopping efforts. This is one domain where we see shifts in fashion come into play, but it also has quite a lot to do with people carefully choosing what they invest in.

The end of a fast fashion era is not the end of fashion. This industry is timeless, and clothes will continue to shape the human experience. A pair of jeans or the perfect dress, whatever it may be, fashion is elevated by who we are and that won’t ever waver.

Grab your best shoes… let’s take a walk on the runway that leads to sustainable and meaningful fashion trends.