The once-popular Forever 21 announced its plans to file for bankruptcy, striking a considerable blow to the era of fast fashion.
For those unaware, fast fashion is the dubious business practice of mass-producing cheap and trendy clothes at breakneck speeds; in some instances the turnaround time for new items to arrive on store shelves is as little as 2 weeks.
Fast fashion gained notoriety during the recession of the late-aughts, and being a “recesionista” was considered a badge of honour. An individual that was both budget and style-conscious, unwilling to break the bank to look good.
So what happened?
The practice of fast fashion quickly fell out of favour for the poor quality of its items, and also its spotty history with human rights issues. Take, for instance, the Rana Plaza disaster in 2013, where over 1000 Bangladeshi workers, mostly female, were buried alive after a structural complex collapsed.
The lack of social responsibility taken by the major companies who contracted the doomed factories forever left a black spot on fast fashion, one from which they could never fully recover.
Also, in our ever environmentally-conscious society, fast fashion is seen as one of the reasons why our planet is suffering. So much waste produced by unsold garments; by 2014-2016 a movement toward slow fashion began its genesis to counteract the wanton, destructive consumerism fed by such stores as Forever 21, Zara, and H&M.
When I was first made aware of the fast fashion craze, I followed Penny Chic, a site curated by then fashion blogger and recessionista Shauna Miller.
From its start in 2010, Miller would regularly update her blog and Youtube channel with posts endorsing clothing sold by big box and fast fashion retailers.
A few years later, the site—once mentioned on national TV and spun off into a published book—went dormant; the last notable update to any Penny Chic content was in 2016.
The Penny Chic blog no longer exists without the use of the Wayback Machine.
Presently, Shauna Miller is now the Global Creative Manager of Netflix. Definitely not a slouch of a title!
I started noticing a general shift away from fast fashion in the mid 2010s. As it fell out of favour with the public, so too did Miller distance herself from her established identity as a budget-savvy stylist.
In contrast, Forever 21 seemed to go full steam ahead, releasing questionable capsule collections catering to an age group that has long since moved on from brick and mortar and have embraced online shopping.
And so I loop it back to Penny Chic. Miller accomplished what Forever 21 could not: she adapted to changing tastes and moved on to a more lucrative role in the industry of streaming.
Forever 21 did not evolve, and that became its downfall.
As a creative, if you wish to stay relevant, must you take a page from Miller’s meteoric rise and transformation of her online brand.
Get in, Get out
Shauna Miller capitalized on fast fashion when it was the peak of popularity. She saw an opportunity in the market, a need and desire for inexpensive and fashionable discount clothing, and sought out reputable retailers to carry her own collection. In 2013 she launched Chic to Walmart.
If you have an idea or a project you wish to start, don’t dawdle. Fads and trends don’t stay popular forever; it’s important to take advantage of an opportunity when the timing presents itself.
Don’t Stagnate, Innovate
Would Shauna Miller be as successful as she is today if she stayed the course and continued working on her blog and Youtube channel in 2019? Probably not.
Fashion blogs aren’t nearly as profitable as they once were in the late 2000s – early 2010s, and the constant changing of the Youtube algorithm makes it nigh impossible for most content creators to make a living off the platform.
It’s unclear whether Shauna Miller had to foresight to see good days were short-lived for Penny Chic as an online brand. Regardless, she only spent a few years managing her fashion blog and Youtube channel before moving on to bigger things.
It’s not unlike how Vine personality King Bach leveraged his fame on the now-defunct platform to transition into roles in television and movies.
No matter how popular you may be on one form of medium, it’s important to not rest on your laurels, as platforms can change their business models at the drop of a hat. If you’re not flexible, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
Learn to Smell a Bad Deal
Again, it’s not entirely certain that Miller knew public opinion would swiftly change on fast fashion, but had she kept Penny Chic going until current day, it’s unlikely her business would have seen the same growth it accrued from 2010 to 2013.
In fact not only would she likely suffered the same meteoric rise and fall as Nasty Gal, she potentially could have garnered a negative backlash as fast fashion fell out of favour.
As a personal example: I started using the platform Medium for writing in 2017. I ceased its use in 2019 because of all the dubious changes made by the writing platform.
I could have continued to write for Medium, maybe even make a little income with its Partnership Program, but there was always the risk the platform would change in such a way that could negatively impact my content, even more so than it already had.
Plus, if I stuck with Medium, I would lose out on the growth my site has seen since I started it in 2018. I smelled a bad deal, and I knew when to make my own interests the priority.
So too, should you learn to trust your intuition and jump ship when something that was once a good investment, begins to turn sour.
What do you think? Do you agree? Has fast fashion’s time finally come to an end? Do you shop at H&M, Target, Walmart, or Zara? And if Forever 21 is truly closing its doors, will you be first in line for the inevitable clearance sales? Please be sure to leave your comments below!