The Rise And Fall Of Forever 21 |||||Eternamente Der Aufstieg und Fall von Forever 21 Auge y declive de Forever 21 L'ascension et la chute de Forever 21 L'ascesa e la caduta di Forever 21 フォーエバー21の興亡 A ascensão e queda da Forever 21 Взлет и падение Forever 21 Forever 21'in Yükselişi ve Düşüşü 永远 21 的兴衰 Forever 21的興衰

Forever 21 was once among America's

fastest-growing fast-fashion retailers. ||||retailers ||||détaillants de mode

It transformed its once penniless ||||senza soldi ||||sans le sou

founders into billionaires, fondateurs devenus milliardaires||milliardaires

established itself as a powerhouse established|||| ||||puissance dominante |se estabeleceu||| 成为强大的力量

in the fast-fashion world, ||fast|| 在快时尚界，

and, at its peak, made $4.4 billion in revenue. |||pico||||receita

But the once flush company is now |||prosperous||| |||prospère|||

preparing to file for bankruptcy. ||||faillite

So, what happened?

Back in the day, Forever 21

embodied the American dream. incarné|||

In 1981, Jin Sook and Do Won "Don" Chang |||and|||| 1981 年，Jin Sook 和 Do Won “Don” Chang

moved to Los Angeles from South Korea mudou||||||

with no money, no college degrees, ||||sem dinheiro, sem diplomas universitários|sem dinheiro, sem diplomas universitários

and speaking little English.

To make ends meet, Jin Sook worked as a hairdresser ||ends||||||| |||||||||coiffeuse 为了维持生计，金淑当了一名理发师

while Don worked as a janitor, |||||custodian |||||pendant que Don travaillait comme concierge 当唐做清洁工的时候，

pumped gas, and served coffee. pumped|||| pompé de l'essence|||| 加油，并提供咖啡。

Until he noticed that "the people who drove 直到他注意到“开车的人

the nicest cars were all in the garment business." |||||||garment| |les plus belles||||||secteur textile| 最漂亮的汽车都属于服装行业。”

So three years later, with $11,000 in savings, ||||||economias 三年后，有了 11,000 美元的存款，

the Changs opened a 900-square-foot 张氏夫妇开了一家 900 平方英尺的

clothing store called Fashion 21. 名为Fashion 21的服装店。

The couple took advantage of wholesale closeouts |||||wholesale|closeouts |||||ventes en gros|liquidations en gros 这对夫妇利用批发清仓的机会

to buy merchandise from manufacturers at a discount. ||merchandise||manufacturers||| 以折扣价从制造商处购买商品。

Their system worked. 他们的系统有效了。

The store made $700,000 in sales its first year. 这家商店开业第一年的销售额为 70 万美元。

Fashion 21 was initially only popular Fashion 21 最初只是流行

with LA's Korean American community. 与洛杉矶的韩裔美国人社区合作。

But the Changs leveraged their success, |||leveraged|| |||tiré parti de|| 但张氏夫妇利用他们的成功，

opening new stores every six months, 每六个月开设新店，

which broadened the company's customer base 扩大了公司的客户群

at the same time. 同时。

They also changed the name to Forever 21 他们还把名字改成了 Forever 21

to emphasize the idea that it was |to emphasize||||| |para enfatizar a ideia de que era||||| 强调的是

"for anyone who wants to be trendy, “对于任何想要成为潮流人士的人来说，

fresh and young in spirit." jovem||||espírito 精神焕发，年轻有活力。”

The company's key to success was simple: 该公司成功的关键很简单：

cultivate a huge following by selling 通过销售培养大量追随者

trendy clothing for low prices. 低价的流行服装。

While this is something that today's consumers 虽然这是当今消费者

pretty much expect, 非常期待，

Forever 21 was one of the first to do it. Forever 21 是最早采取这一举措的公司之一。

And they were the fastest. 而且他们是速度最快的。

Jin Sook was eventually approving over Jin Sook 最终批准了

400 designs a day. 每天 400 种设计。

Which meant the company could sell trends 这意味着公司可以出售潮流

as they were happening. 正如它们正在发生的那样。

Even if some of those designs landed Forever 21 in trouble. |||||||Forever 21|| mesmo|||||||||problemas Auch wenn einige dieser Designs Forever 21 in Schwierigkeiten brachten. 即使其中一些设计让 Forever 21 陷入困境。

But while other brands and designers |||||créateurs de mode

might not have been Forever 21's biggest fans, talvez||||||| 也许不是 Forever 21 的忠实粉丝，

customers couldn't get enough

of their affordable styles. ||de seus estilos acessíveis.|

As a result, Forever 21 became one ||||se tornou|

of the largest tenants of American malls, |||tenants||| |||locataires principaux||| ||||||dos maiores inquilinos dos shoppings americanos,

with 480 locations nationwide. ||à l'échelle nationale ||em 480 locais em todo o país

And by 2015, business was booming. ||||was booming

Forever 21's sales peaked,

with $4.4 billion in global sales that year.

As for the Changs? |||the Changs |||Changs

They became one of America's wealthiest couples,

with a combined net worth reaching

an estimated $5.9 billion in March 2015.

Forever 21's goal was to become

an $8 billion company by 2017

and open 600 new stores in three years.

But the company's aggressive expansion

would also lead to its downfall. |||||chute levaria|||||

Part of what made Forever 21 popular in the first place

was its fast-fashion model.

Even though its products were always mass-produced, |embora||||||

they still felt unique because its stores

only sold select styles for a limited time. ||selected|||||

However, as the company focused on growing bigger, no entanto|||||||

its styles became more "cookie-cutter." ||||cookie|standardized |||||uniformisé 其风格变得更加“千篇一律”。

As a result, Forever 21 started

to lose touch with its core customers, ||perder contato|||com|

while competitors like H&M and Zara rose. No longer the trendsetter, |||one who sets trends |||Plus à la mode

Forever 21 became the butt of the joke. |||butt = target||| |||la risée|||

It's also no longer the fastest in the game.

Internet brands like Fashion Nova churn out |||||produce| |||||produisent en masse| Fashion Nova 等網路品牌大量湧現

celebrity- and influencer-inspired ||influencer| 受名人和影响者的启发

styles at a rapid-fire pace. 风格快速发展。

And as e-commerce has continued to boom, |||commerce||||

traditional retailers like Forever 21 |retailers||

have struggled to adapt to

changing consumer behaviors. |consumer|

According to a March 2019 survey, De acordo com||||

millennials make 60% of their purchases online millennials||||| milléniaux|||||

and overall prefer online shopping |complessivamente||| |geral|||

over going to a physical store. als der Gang in ein physisches Geschäft.

Yet, Forever 21 continued opening new stores

as recently as 2016, erst im Jahr 2016,

even expanding existing stores até mesmos||| sogar die Erweiterung bestehender Geschäfte

to take over multiple floors with mens, ||||||hommes ||||vários andares||andares

childrens, and home-goods sections. |||goods| enfants|||| 儿童和家居用品区。

Which could help explain why Forever 21's sales

are estimated to have dropped |are estimated|||

by 20% to 25% in 2018.

On top of that, the Changs,

who still own the company,

have lost more than $4 billion

from their personal net worths. ||||valeurs nettes personnelles

The company overall is now $500 million in debt |||||||dívida

and considering filing for bankruptcy. ||filing|| ||déposer une demande||

Forever 21 has already started downsizing its stores. ||||réduire la taille|| ||||reduzindo||

And as one of the largest tenants of America's malls, ||||||tenants|||

a widespread shutdown of Forever 21 ||fermeture généralisée||

could exacerbate what's already being referred to |exacerbate||||| |aggraver ce qui|||||

as the "retail apocalypse," ||retail|apocalypse |||apocalypse du commerce 被称为“零售业末日”，

which has already closed more than 15,000

retailers across the US varejistas|||

and could shut down 75,000 more,

according to investment firm UBS. ||||selon UBS

But bankruptcy doesn't always |falência||

mean the end for a company.

In fact, it could give Forever 21 ||||dar|

time to restructure and bounce back. ||restructure||to bounce| ||restructurer|||

The company could shut down

its least profitable stores |menos|suas lojas menos lucrativas|

and try rebranding itself. ||se repositionner|

But in an age of cheap internet boutiques

and fast-fashion empires, this might not be enough.

So it turns out Forever 21

might not be forever after all.