Forever 21: Not Just Annoyingly Loud Music Any More

I was, unfortunately, unable to make the screening of Made in L.A. this past week (that’s what I get for coming back from break a day late and doing absolutely no work while I was home). Since finding the documentary online was a no-go, I decided to look into the history of Forever 21 boycotts and protests online. I assumed that if the farmers and the garment workers were already angry with Forever 21, someone else must be, too.

Those familiar with stores like Forever 21 and their ilk (Charlotte Russe and Wet Seal come to mind for me, and my West Coast friends tell me Papaya is similar) will not be surprised that many of Forever 21’s products are designer knock-offs (or “recreations”, if you regard them more positively.) What I did find surprising, however, is that several designers have actually recently taken action to protect their intellectual property—a Village Voice article dated September 2007 listed Anthropologie, Diane Von Furstenberg and Anna Sui as being among “more than 20 other designers” suing Forever 21 for infringement of intellectual property rights [1]. An article from E! earlier that year adds Gwen Stefani to the list [2]. I’d like to think that lawsuits like this would be enough to cramp Forever 21’s sweatshop-contracting, warehouse-building style, but unfortunately, I don’t think that will be coming any time soon.

Even though I’m happy that Forever 21 might face consequences for a few of their bad deeds, any money they lose will be going straight into the coffers of the high-end design firms, rather than the more low-profile artists whose work is also being stolen, such as Julia Schonlau, whose t-shirt design, originally made available on Threadless, was practically traced onto a Forever 21 t-shirt [3]. I’m not sure Schonlau is even aware that her work has been stolen—I could find no other mention of this online—but either way, I doubt she has the financial resources to take on a multinational chain like Forever 21. Women who are looking for designer quality aren’t going to shop at Forever 21 anyway, and women who do shop there probably don’t have the extra cash to splurge on designer goods, so the big designers aren’t really losing their market. But Schonlau’s shirt sells for a comparable price to Forever 21’s—in fact, FXXI’s is actually $0.90 more. Schonlau is the one losing business here, but she’s never going to be able to recoup the money.

But obviously, the most unfortunate people involved in all of this are the garment workers who make all of the knock-offs in question, often for less than minimum wage, working long shifts in abhorrent conditions [4]. I agree with Jen’s comment in her post, that the recent victory of in the garment workers’ suit seemed more like an isolated case than a step forward. I know I, for one, am done shopping at Forever 21, but that’s hardly going to do anything. Even the boycotts by the South Central Farmers seem, ultimately, like they’re better for making the farmers feel empowered than actually affecting the store’s sales in a significant way. What will it take, do you think, for the public as a whole to start caring about issues like where our clothes come from, and what exactly we’re supporting when we buy our clothes? Or have we already become used to the idea that our clothes come from sweatshops, that no matter where we turn we’re paying for the continuation of an exploitative system?

[1] http://www.villagevoice.com/2007-09-18/nyc-life/sui-generis/
[2] http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b55656_Gwen_Hates_on_Harajukus_Lovers.html
[3] http://fashionista.com/2008/12/adventures_in_copyright_sad_fa.php
[4] http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=792