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Forever 21, Which Helped Popularize Fast Fashion, to File for Bankruptcy

nytimes.com

51–60 of 178 posts

Re: Forever 21, Which Helped Popularize Fast Fashion, to File for Bankruptcy

#51
post #46
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of people are allergic to wool. Perhaps as much as a quarter to a half of the population will have a mild allergic reaction if they have ordinary coarse wool rubbing against their skin for a long time, like wearing a woollen collar or scarf while trudging through the snow all day. Some people can recognise whether fabric contains wool just by touching it with their fingertips: an immediate itching sensation. So…

What about merino wool? It is said to be much less of an issue with allergies, and we see it everywhere these days.

Wool makes me itchy (I still wear it just not against my skin) but cashmere and merino don't have the same effect.

Re: Forever 21, Which Helped Popularize Fast Fashion, to File for Bankruptcy

#52

Back in '08-'09 Forever 21 was my favorite clothing store. They had styles there that fit well, looked good, used comfortable fabric, and was relatively cheap. Given how the economy was doing at the time, it gave Forever 21 an advantage: clothes 2-3x cheaper and clothes quite a bit more enjoyable to wear. But the fabric they used disintegrated on me, as woman's clothes tend to. (Men get thicker fabric, but at the exp…

> I'm afraid the same fate will come to H&M that has come to Forever 21.

Wasn't looking too good last year [0]. Not sure how they're doing now though.

0: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/27/business/hm-clothes-stock...

Re: Forever 21, Which Helped Popularize Fast Fashion, to File for Bankruptcy

#53
post #48

Back in '08-'09 Forever 21 was my favorite clothing store. They had styles there that fit well, looked good, used comfortable fabric, and was relatively cheap. Given how the economy was doing at the time, it gave Forever 21 an advantage: clothes 2-3x cheaper and clothes quite a bit more enjoyable to wear. But the fabric they used disintegrated on me, as woman's clothes tend to. (Men get thicker fabric, but at the exp…

Before H&M you need to talk about Gap. Their local store to me in the UK is almost always permanently empty. I still use them to buy basics, but always shop online. Superdry, the same - it's always empty, but I'm not a fan of big logos on clothes so wouldn't buy Superdry. Uniqlo hasn't yet made the same mistake of opening stores almost everywhere. You can shop online with them, but there aren't many stores outside of…

I am from Europe, but currently live in Asia.

I felt in love with Uniqlo. It's just perfectly what I want from a clothing store.

I have heard Uniqlo in Europe and US is different from Uniqlo in Asia and they try to position themselves as slightly more expensive; I can't really tell.

Re: Forever 21, Which Helped Popularize Fast Fashion, to File for Bankruptcy

#54
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fast fashion means three-week fashion cycles. That a fashion cycle is a single delivery, and the shop cannot order more if something is a great success. What you say sounds wrongish... In a fast fashion shop you can try on ten things this week and ten _other_ things next week, and rate of change makes online ordering look slow.

Dated a top F21 buyer for a few years and I can say that: 1) Prototype to street was way more than 3 weeks. More like 3 months (still faster than most fashion which makes buys 6 months ahead). Zara is the main large retailer that is actually about 1 month from concept to store. 2) The quality of their men's wear was pretty good for the price. 3) They worked their corporate employees to the bone and paid them 60-70% a…

> Prototype to street was way more than 3 weeks. More like 3 months (still faster than most fashion which makes buys 6 months ahead).

Those are different things, right? From what I understand, Apple works on a phone for about 3 years, but they cycle every year. You can have multiple 'prototype to street' cycles running that deliver a new collection every 3 weeks. I'm not sure that's how it works in fast fashion, but I wouldn't be surprised if it does.

Re: Forever 21, Which Helped Popularize Fast Fashion, to File for Bankruptcy

#55
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fast fashion means three-week fashion cycles. That a fashion cycle is a single delivery, and the shop cannot order more if something is a great success. What you say sounds wrongish... In a fast fashion shop you can try on ten things this week and ten _other_ things next week, and rate of change makes online ordering look slow.

Dated a top F21 buyer for a few years and I can say that: 1) Prototype to street was way more than 3 weeks. More like 3 months (still faster than most fashion which makes buys 6 months ahead). Zara is the main large retailer that is actually about 1 month from concept to store. 2) The quality of their men's wear was pretty good for the price. 3) They worked their corporate employees to the bone and paid them 60-70% a…

Oh, sorry, perhaps fashion cycle is the wrong term. I meant the time a particular garment typically stays in the shop at full price. What's the industry term for that period?

Re: Forever 21, Which Helped Popularize Fast Fashion, to File for Bankruptcy

#56

how much do cheap plastic clothes (polyester, spandex, elastic) contribute to the micro-plastics epidemic I saw on HN recently? I've been trying to get 100% natural materials (cotton, wool, leather) and they seem more comfortable, less stuffy (especially for sleeping) but that might be a placebo.

Ashes Ashes has a great episode on it, basically with every wash, your clothes looses micro plastic, especially in the first few times https://ashesashes.org/blog/episode-19-life-in-plastic

Re: Forever 21, Which Helped Popularize Fast Fashion, to File for Bankruptcy

#57
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My girlfriend worked as a weaving technician and she said the H&M stuff got much worse over the past decade and subjectively it is true. The stuff literally disintegrates if you have it in the drier to often. Sadly enough this is also true for the men’s wear. I certainly try to spend a little more and get quality stuff. Second hand stores can also be great because you can find great quality stuff that feels better af…

Well apparently women are supposed to only wear a piece of clothing once or twice, no? So they optimize for price, so you can buy more pieces of clothing so you have something to wear, rather than longevity which "nobody" cares about. That said, it's not just the clothes for women. I tried buying some jeans at H&M, twice. Both times I wore a hole in them in less than a month. I'm not doing anything special, just a re…

> Well apparently women are supposed to only wear a piece of clothing once or twice, no?

No.

Re: Forever 21, Which Helped Popularize Fast Fashion, to File for Bankruptcy

#58
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fast fashion means three-week fashion cycles. That a fashion cycle is a single delivery, and the shop cannot order more if something is a great success. What you say sounds wrongish... In a fast fashion shop you can try on ten things this week and ten _other_ things next week, and rate of change makes online ordering look slow.

Dated a top F21 buyer for a few years and I can say that: 1) Prototype to street was way more than 3 weeks. More like 3 months (still faster than most fashion which makes buys 6 months ahead). Zara is the main large retailer that is actually about 1 month from concept to store. 2) The quality of their men's wear was pretty good for the price. 3) They worked their corporate employees to the bone and paid them 60-70% a…

There's something I'll never understand: how come they left here a pile of work and she worked till 5 AM? Clock shows 5PM (or whatever your end of schedule is) and that's it, you're done for the day, whatever hasn't been finished couldn't clearly be, turn off the computer, clear your desk from the litter, grab your coat, bag and off you go (unless you're a heart surgeon in the middle of a surgery, that is). If they'd leave her with pile of work 2 weeks big, would she work these 2 weeks for free? What makes 'a night' OK but '2 weeks' not? By the sound of it it doesn't seem like she had no other options, being already offered way better job (I hope!). This is teaching companies to mistreat people, by accepting things like that.

Re: Forever 21, Which Helped Popularize Fast Fashion, to File for Bankruptcy

#60
I’ve seen a lot of people going on about fast fashion recently. I’m aware of lots of shops that are considered fast fashion, but which ones aren’t? Where should I be going to buy more durable clothes that are made of nicer materials? I’m genuinely curious. I’d like to change my buying patterns (I’m really not that fashion conscious, so long as I can have some nice button ups and trousers I’ll be happy).
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