Fast Fashion Brand Goes Bankrupt

Fast fashion brand Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy in late September.

The clothing giant announced that it will close up to 178 stores as it struggles to reorganize its business.

Forever 21 helped popularize the concept of fast fashion in the early 2000s.

The company became known for offering trendy clothing styles at very affordable prices.

At the same time, this allowed young consumers to regularly throw away their clothes and replace them with the latest fashionable look.

The company was founded in Los Angeles in 1984 by Chang Do-won and Chang Jin-sook, a husband-and-wife duo from South Korea.

After opening their fist store, the couple saw immediate success.

By 2013, they had opened more than 480 stores around the world.

Yet despite decades of profits, the company is currently on the verge of collapse.

Market experts have identified three key reasons for the surprising failure of this once-thriving business.

The first was the company's inability to compete online.

As customers started doing more of their shopping on the web, Forever 21 could not keep up with sites like Amazon, which allows users to browse multiple brands on one page.

The second reason was the company's insistence on opening up more physical stores.

The company continued to expand into shopping malls and built more brick-and-mortar stores, even as fewer people were visiting these locations.

The final and most important reason, however, has been the gradual shift in consumer behavior.

Over the last decade, consumers have become more conscious of the environmental impact of fast fashion.

They have learned that producing these cloths releases enormous amounts of greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals into the environment.

Moreover, because the clothes are so cheap, they are usually thrown away after being worn only a few times.

With issues like climate change and sustainability drawing more attention than ever before, it seems the time of fast fashion is coming to an end.

 

• go / turn / become bankrupt  파산하다   bankrupt ˈbæŋkrʌpt  파산한 (=insolvent)   file for bankruptcy  파산 신청을 하다

• close up  (잠깐 동안 상점 등의) 문을 닫다 (↔open up)  struggle  ˈstrʌɡl  투쟁[고투]하다, 몸부림치다, 허우적[버둥]거리다 , 힘겹게 나아가다[하다] / 투쟁, 분투

• on the verge of  막 …하려는[…하기 직전의]   inability ˌɪnəˈbɪləti  무능, 불능 (↔ability)   brick-and-mortar  소매의, 오프라인 거래의.

• identified   확인된, 인정된, 식별된    identify aɪˈdentɪfaɪ  (신원 등을) 확인하다[알아보다] ,  찾다, 발견하다

• thriving  θráiviŋ  번성[번영]하는, 번화한, 성대한   thrive  θraɪv  번창하다, 잘 자라다 (=flourish)    insistence  ɪnˈsɪstəns   고집, 주장, 강조  insist  고집하다[주장하다/우기다]

• keep up (with sb / sth)  (~의 진도·증가 속도 등을) 따라가다   keep up with sb ~와 계속 연락하고 지내다

• a gradual shift  점진적인 변화  be / become conscious of  …을 자각하다, 알고 있다   conscious  |kɑːnʃəs 의식하는, 자각하는 (↔unconscious) (→self-conscious)

• release  rɪˈliːs  (잡고 있거나 막혀 있던 것을) 놓아 주다[날려 보내다/방출하다] (=let go, let loose) ,  (갇히거나 구속되어 있는 상태에서) 풀어 주다, 석방[해방]하다

• greenhouse  온실   sustainability  지속[유지] 가능성  sustain  səˈsteɪn   계속[지속]시키다 (=maintain)