The Japanese subsidiary of Forever 21, a major American fast fashion company, announced that it will close all 14 stores in Japan, including Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Hiroshima, Kobe, Kyoto and Okinawa, at the end of October and withdraw from Japan. The online store is also closed. A final sale will be held at stores and online until the end of October.
Forever 21 was reported in the US to be ready to apply for Article 11 of the US Bankruptcy Law (equivalent to the Japanese Civil Rehabilitation Law). Growing through aggressive store openings, the US seems to have suffered from the rise of online retailing such as Amazon.
In April 2009, the first store opened in Harajuku, Tokyo (closed in 2017) in April 2009. On the day of the store opening, a long line of about 2,000 people was created, and “$ 100 (about 10,000 yen) would bring everything from clothes to accessories” became popular. The initial plan for opening stores in Japan was announced as 100 or more, but at the peak time there are only about 20 stores. He led the fast fashion boom of the late 2000s, but the momentum did not continue.
Meanwhile, Spanish ZARA is ...