Forever 21 helped invent the fast fashion playbook—turning catwalk looks into cheap mall trends at breakneck speed. Now it’s filing for bankruptcy. But its fall isn’t a victory for sustainability. It simply couldn’t keep up with today’s ultra-fast fashion juggernauts like Shein and Temu. These new giants move faster, sell cheaper, and rake in billions—all while operating supply chains laced with labor rights abuses.

Another one bites the dust? 

Before there was Shein, there was Forever 21, a popular brick-and-mortar store that peaked in 2015. The retailer was known for the addictive adrenaline rush gotten by sifting through clothing offered at ridiculously cheap prices. A reaction that used to be hard to duplicate in online shopping and before the evils of fast fashion were well known. But today’s shopping climate is very different, and Forever 21 is paying the price. 

The New York Times reports,

Using social media and influencers to push its $10 dresses and $7 tops, Shein saw its revenue explode to $38 billion in 2024. (Though many items cost less, Shein’s clothes average $14 an item, according to a 2023 report by the website Business of Fashion and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company.) Forever 21’s revenue, meanwhile, peaked at $4.4 billion back in 2015.

Shein did not win by being more careful with its workers. The 2022 documentary “Untold: Inside the Shein Machine” by Britain’s Channel 4 included footage of employees who worked up to 18 hours a day making hundreds of clothing items on a daily salary of as little as $20, which could drop to as low as $7 if they made mistakes, with one day off a month. In May 2024, an investigation by the Swiss watchdog group Public Eye found similar conditions at Shein suppliers.

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