An unfortunate rag to riches story gone wrong
Although a household name, if you asked who the founder of Forever 21 was, many would give you blanks. Although the billion-dollar empire has filed for bankruptcy, it is still a rags-to-riches story that needs to be told.
In an industry dictated by older brands, Don Won Chang made one of the biggest footprints, especially as someone who never grew up in the states.
Fashion has always been dictated by older brands like Louis Vuitton to Prada. Before launching the fashion brand Forever 21 in 1984, he had migrated to California in 1981 with his wife, Jin Sook Chang.
Since Chang never went to university, he had worked in cafes growing up. When he moved over, he continued a similar trend where he worked various odd jobs, from being a janitor to a gas station attendant and a coffee shop.
After his wife and himself managed to save $11 000, they decided to launch a 900 square feet store together, pooling all their funds in a risky move. At first, the store was called Fashion 21, and business mainly came from the Korean American Community.
Their first year was a solid one
In their first year, they managed to close $700 000 in sales and soon expanded their operations and changed their name to Forever 21. By 2013, there were more than 480 stores and revenue of $3.7 billion.
Originally Forever 21 focused on women's clothing but expanded into menswear as well. By 2015, their sales peaked at $4.4 billion in global sales.
“Forever 21 gives hope and inspiration to people who come here with almost nothing… The fact that immigrants coming to America, much like I did, can come into a Forever 21 and know that all of this was started by a simple Korean immigrant with a dream.” — said Chang
Before bankruptcy, Forever 21 had an international empire of 790 stores worth $3.2 billion. Even though Forever 21 has since lost its shine today, it is still impressive to see Chang grow from nothing to a billion-dollar brand.
A shift in consumer trends caused the death of Forever 21
Globally, in fashion, we saw 'fast fashion' competitors pop up alongside the growth of online retailers. Unlike Forever 21, these online stores didn't need to fork out a tonne of money with rental locations and ate into Forever 21's bottom line.
By 2019, the company became bankrupt and announced it was ceasing operations in 40 countries. Even though today the company is no longer as it was years ago, we can still admire the grit and resilience of the founders who came from nothing to build a fashion empire.
With the recent #stopasianhate campaigns, I wanted to specifically highlight an overlooked business that grew from humble roots.