Forever 21 and its fast-fashion cohorts built their place in the retail ecosystem by selling affordable styles for less than $20 to teenagers and young shoppers still early in their careers. But to designer and other brands that continually dragged the retailer into court, it was a business model based on churning out knockoffs of their runway looks and trademarks.
Forever 21’s Chapter 11 filing late Sunday night shines a spotlight on just how much traction the retailer gained with its often too-close-for comfort model.
Clearly, the company’s approach wasn’t enough to save it from its lenders, although it might have helped it gain some currency with shoppers, who flocked to the stores in the early days to get the latest looks at rock-bottom prices.
“Forever 21 is part of a long-standing trend in the fashion industry of businesses [seen as] borrowing trends and doing everything they can to get competitive products in front of consumers as quickly as possible,” said Howard Hogan, partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, who chairs the firm’s fashion, retail and consumer products group.
“There is a debate happening among academics, judges and business leaders about what kind of copying is acceptable and how much, and under what circumstances,”
Forever 21’s Chapter 11 filing late Sunday night shines a spotlight on just how much traction the retailer gained with its often too-close-for comfort model.
Clearly, the company’s approach wasn’t enough to save it from its lenders, although it might have helped it gain some currency with shoppers, who flocked to the stores in the early days to get the latest looks at rock-bottom prices.
“Forever 21 is part of a long-standing trend in the fashion industry of businesses [seen as] borrowing trends and doing everything they can to get competitive products in front of consumers as quickly as possible,” said Howard Hogan, partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, who chairs the firm’s fashion, retail and consumer products group.
“There is a debate happening among academics, judges and business leaders about what kind of copying is acceptable and how much, and under what circumstances,”