A style retail Permanently 21 shop is imagined in in London on September 30, 2019. Style seller Permanently 21 has actually applied for Phase 11 personal bankruptcy defense in the United States.
Alberto Pezzali|NurPhoto|Getty Images
Forever 21 is asking property managers for a break on rental fee as the heritage quick style gamer’s sales decrease and it battles to stay on par with savvier rivals, CNBC has actually found out.
The seller, which has greater than 380 shops in the united state, has actually asked some property managers to reduce its rental fee by as high as 50%, individuals acquainted with the issue informed CNBC.Â
While the business is dealing with monetary problems, it has yet to work with consultants and isn’t taking into consideration a 2nd personal bankruptcy declaring, individuals claimed. It’s functioning to reorganize its numerous leases so it can reduce expenses, they said.Â
Forever 21 encounters a variety of problems that have actually long pestered its service. It runs in the progressively saturated quick style market, and battles to handle stock and recognize and react to its customer, among individuals claimed.
The seller’s battles followed it applied for personal bankruptcy in 2019 and was later on gotten by a consortium consisting of brand name monitoring business Genuine Brands Team and property managers Simon Residential property Team and Brookfield Building Allies.
When the business looked for personal bankruptcy defense, it had greater than 800 places internationally.
Comparable to numerous merchants, Permanently 21’s enormous shop impact evaluated on its annual report when it initially applied for personal bankruptcy. The seller had actually broadened also rapidly throughout its development stage, leaving it not able to purchase its supply chain and swiftly react to altering trends.Â
Closing numerous shops after declaring personal bankruptcy has actually not fixed its problems.
Permanently 21’s monetary setting has actually additionally injured the efficiency of its driver Sparc Team â $” the joint endeavor that consists of Genuine, Simon and since last summer season, Chinese-linked quick style leviathan Shein. Sparc runs Permanently 21’s procedures, in addition to a variety of various other formerly-bankrupt merchants, consisting of Aeropostale, Brooks Brothers and Lucky Brand.Â
Sparc decreased remark to CNBC. Simon really did not return an ask for remark.
Permanently considers on SparcÂ
Sparc has actually been inspecting its budget plans and emulating its very own monetary battles, individuals acquainted with the issue said.Â
Many of Sparc’s obstacles originate from the trouble of combining various heritage brand names and trying to streamline their groups, modern technology, advertising, ecommerce, sourcing and supply chains, among individuals claimed. It’s additionally emulated the concern of running brand names that have actually long run primarily in malls.
Expensive leases for stores that perform poorly relative to their size can often weigh down retailers’ balance sheets and drain cash.
Forever 21 has consistently paid its vendors late over the last year, according to data from Creditsafe, a business intelligence platform that analyzes companies’ financial, legal and compliance risks. The data shows Forever 21’s payment patterns to vendors have fluctuated, with some bills going more than 70 days past due in late 2023, according to Creditsafe.
Plenty of companies, including many that are healthy, leave bills unpaid for weeks or months, but late payments can also signal larger financial troubles. The industry average hovered between 12 and 13 days past due for the last 12 months, said Creditsafe spokesperson Ragini Bhalla.
Racing to compete
In the past, Forever 21’s top rivals included H&M and Zara. These days, its biggest foes are ultra-fast fashion retailers like Shein and Temu.Â
“The speed is almost impossible to compete with. So if you juxtapose any brand that was around 20 years ago to these new, on-demand manufacturing fast fashion companies⦠it’s like comparing a mobile phone from 2000 to the newest iPhone. The speed, the quality, everything is just different,” one of the people said. “As soon as someone goes viral in a new outfit on TikTok, Shein is immediately making it and no regular brand can keep up with that.”Â
Shoppers walks past advertisements on the opening day of fast-fashion e-commerce giant Shein, which hosted a brick-and-mortar pop up inside Forever 21 at the Ontario Mills Mall in Ontario on Oct. 19, 2023.
Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
At the ICR conference in January, Authentic Brands CEO Jamie Salter said acquiring Forever 21 was “probably the biggest mistake” of his career, adding he also erred when he failed to recognize the competitive threat posed by Shein and Temu earlier.Â
He recalled a conversation he had with Simon’s CEO David Simon, who asked Salter why he wanted to partner with Shein.Â
“I said, ‘David, it’s the right decision, we cannot beat them. Their supply chain is too good. They know what’s going on. They’ve figured this out. We need to partner with them,'” Salter recounted. “So I was the brave one that said, ‘Let’s go partner with these guys.'”
As part of the two retailers’ partnership, Shein will design, manufacture and distribute a line of co-branded Forever 21 apparel and accessories that will be sold primarily on Shein’s website. Forever 21 has also hosted Shein pop-up stores and begun accepting Shein returns, both of which have driven positive foot traffic to Forever 21’s shops, one of the people said.Â
The two originally linked up last August and under the terms of the agreement, Shein acquired about one-third of Sparc while Sparc took a minority stake in Shein.Â
Given the concerns that Forever 21 is having with its leases, and the success of Shein’s pop-up shops, some industry observers questioned whether the digital giant could soon take over Forever 21’s stores. However, one of the people said that’s unlikely because the retailer lacks experience in physical retail and its business model involves small-batch production and an inventory that constantly shifts based on trends.
