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

nytimes.com

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

#101

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

noodlesUK wrote: post #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).

Three sources of very durable clothing are:

+ Expedition-clothing brands like Fjällräven, whose clothes are meant to serve a person for years trekking in the outdoors.

+ Specialist shops for clothes for certain professional and industrial careers

+ Military surplus shops.

While none of these are good sources for clothes that will make you look trendy and stylish to impress, they are great options if you just want some solid shirts and trousers to wear on an everyday basis.

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

#102

Post by zuzun »

HenryBemis wrote: post #49
atoav wrote: 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…

Most brands, especially the low priced ones has reduced the quality of the weaving and textiles, and that contributes to the fast fashion. Your sweater stretches a bit and you go buy a new one (or so they think). I remember I had bought some sweaters in the late 90s from Topman in the UK and they looked brand new 7 years later. Now, nothing from Topman is nearly as good. Now though I stick to brands such as COS, yes…

I'm not sure if my memory serves me right, but my impression was that most of their clothing was made in Portugal when they were in a few flagship stores only. Once they scaled their production to a worldwide online shop, more things were made in countries like Bangladesh or China. I felt like this blurred the line between them and the cheaper H&M Premium Quality stuff.

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

#103

Post by benbristow »

Milner08 wrote: post #36
proverbialbunny wrote: post #28

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…

H&M is much, much bigger than Forever 21. Forever 21 barely exists out side of North America, but H&M can be found everywhere. I mean everywhere. That may be a factor in how cheap they can be - The scale of the business.

H&M isn't cheap though. £25 for a pair of denim jeans where I can get 3 pairs for the same price in Primark.

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

#104

Post by flanbiscuit »

proverbialbunny wrote: post #28

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…

Your experience with F21 is how I felt about H&M but going from 2001 to 2005. It was still a really new store in the US at the time and brought that European slim fit that worked best with my body type which so many American brands lacked at the time. I still pop into H&M once in a while but it's definitely not my main store anymore, I honestly don't know what is. I feel like H&M really popularized fast fashion more so than F21 but I'm also looking at this from a very male (albeit queer pseudo fashionable male if that makes a difference) pov. Granted stores like Old Navy already had cheap clothing at the time but it wasn't really considered "fashion", it was more like everyday super casual wear.

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

#105

Post by bradstewart »

Robelius wrote: post #82
atoav wrote: 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…

I have similar experiences with H&M, and a lot of other cheap basically colored shirts. It’ll feel great at first. Then I’ll leave it in the dryer for a few minutes too long, and the fit completely changes while the material looks degraded. I’m more than happy to spend $30+ on a simple shirt that won’t change its fit after a few cleanings, but struggle to find a consistent brand. If anyone has recommendations, please…

Somewhat surprisingly, my go to t-shirt has become Patagonia's Capilene Cool Trail after cycling through too many cheap brands.

Color options are pretty limited, but mine have been through a few dozen wash/dry cycles at this point and still look and fit great.

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

#106

Post by Frondo »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #101
noodlesUK wrote: post #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).

Three sources of very durable clothing are: + Expedition-clothing brands like Fjällräven, whose clothes are meant to serve a person for years trekking in the outdoors. + Specialist shops for clothes for certain professional and industrial careers + Military surplus shops. While none of these are good sources for clothes that will make you look trendy and stylish to impress, they are great options if you just want som…

I don't know if I've just lucked out with my Uniqlo purchases, but I could also recommend them for good-looking basics that last a long, long time.

I've had a couple pairs of Uniqlo jeans for several years now, and they don't have any of the wear in the crotch my Levis used to get. When I was buying Levis, I might get two years out of them before the fabric at the crotch thins and eventually rips. The Uniqlo jeans are showing almost none of that wear (both regular jeans and skinny jeans).

Same with their t-shirts and polo shirts. The necks haven't stretched, nor have they gotten any holes under the sleeves.

One of the two pairs of chinos I own from Uniqlo has started pilling, though, which is too bad, but still has lasted better than the last pair of chinos I bought at Macy's.

Again, ymmv, just my experience, but my wardrobe is now mostly Uniqlo and I'm buying a lot less replacement clothing (at least for basics) than I used to.

Also, the less you dry clothing at all, the longer it'll last -- I line-dry as much as possible, and toss it in the dryer on the no-heat mode to tumble it a bit if it needs it.

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

#107

Post by namdnay »

shp0ngle wrote: post #53
bgeeek wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

FWIW I tried uniqlo in tokyo (biqlo store) and it was nearly identical to the stuff in london

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

#108

Post by namdnay »

totoglazer wrote: post #86
rfwhXQ5H wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uniqlo

Uniqlo epitomizes fast fashion.

Not really, their product ranges and styles are fairly static and basic. Zara or H&M are fast fashion, Uniqlo is decent timeless basics

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

#109

Post by Wowfunhappy »

qubex wrote: post #87
dehrmann wrote: post #74

> Mr. Chang, the company’s chief executive, said in a 2012 interview that the chain was named Forever 21 because it targeted 20-somethings and because “old people wanted to be 21 again, and young people wanted to be 21 forever.” I like how he felt like he needed to explain that one.

The funny thing is that the statement is not true, the first store was called “Fashion 21” and they renamed themselves when they started opening other stores.

That doesn't necessarily invalidate the statement, they presumably put a great deal of thought into their new name.

If their first store was called "Fashion 75", do you think they would have chosen "Forever 75" as their new name?

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

#110

Post by magashna »

proverbialbunny wrote: post #28

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…

H&M makes clothes that seem to have the texture and quality of tissue paper. I understand they are cheap but I assume shopping there is like being the poor man in the boot theory of socioeconomic unfairness.
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