Fast-fashion retailer Forever 21 files for bankruptcy

Fast-fashion retailer Forever 21's US operating company on Sunday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in six years, hamstrung by dwindling mall traffic and mounting competition from online retailers.

The move likely means liquidation for the company, which was unable to find a buyer for its roughly 350 US stores. Its trademark and intellectual property - still held by an entity called Authentic Brands Group - may live on in a different form.

The rise of e-commerce, paired with the slow death of the American mega mall, has been an ongoing headwind for Forever 21. It previously filed for Chapter 11 in 2019 and was bought out of bankruptcy by Sparc, a joint venture between label owner Authentic Brands Group and mall operators Simon Property and Brookfield Asset Management.

Forever 21 said it will conduct liquidation sales at its stores while simultaneously conducting a court-supervised sale and marketing process for some or all of its assets.

The company listed its estimated assets in the range of US$100 million (HK$780 million) to US$500 million, according to a filing with bankruptcy court in the District of Delaware, with liabilities being in the range of US$1 billion to US$10 billion. The filing also showed creditors in the range of 10,001 to 25,000.

In the event of a successful sale, Forever 21 said it may pivot away from a full wind down of operations to facilitate a going-concern transaction.

The company said its stores and website in the United States will remain open and continue serving customers, and that its international stores remain unaffected.

Forever 21 is owned by Catalyst Brands, an entity formed on January 8 through the merger of Forever 21's previous owner, Sparc Group, and JC Penney, a department store chain owned since 2020 by mall operators and Simon Property Group.

Founded in Los Angeles in 1984 by South Korean immigrants, Forever 21 at its height was popular among young shoppers on the prowl for stylish but affordable clothing. By 2016 it was operating around 800 stores globally, with 500 of those in the United States.

REUTERS