Forever 21 at its peak did more than $4 billion in sales, drawing in fast-fashion shoppers with low prices. But the company expanded too fast, especially internationally, stretching its supply chain thin and struggling to gain traction with shoppers, according to the retailer’s restructuring officer, Jonathan Goulding of Alvarez and Marsal.
Goulding maintains that Forever 21 has a price and style advantage over even other low-price peers in the segment. He called out H&M, Urban Outfitters and American Eagle specifically. “Unlike other brands’ merchandise at a similar price point, Forever 21’s merchandise is more similar in style to premium, more expensive lifestyle brands,” he said in court papers soon after the retailer filed for Chapter 11.
