The company has no famous designers or ad budget, nor a single public relations flack. Yet its revenue topped $1 billion in 2006, catapulting Forever 21 into the ranks of the top 500 privately held companies in the United States.
In just five years, it has quadrupled in size, crushing competitors like Rampage and Gadzooks—and is putting the squeeze on mighty retailers like the Gap. In 2001, the house that khakis built posted a $7.7 million loss, while Forever 21 boasted 64 percent growth in revenue thanks to 36 new stores sprinkled across the country.
How did an operation founded by poor Korean immigrants and headquartered in L.A.’s sweatshop district so rapidly become a player in an industry dominated by huge European conglomerates? Its founders chalk it all up to hard work and a frugal .
Others allege outright design theft. In the past year, the company has faced more than two dozen federal lawsuits for piracy, brought by labels including Anna Sui, Diane von Furstenberg, and Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Lovers, along with a raft of fabric manufacturers.
At the center of the storm are
Do Won “Don†Chang and his wife, Jin Sook
, the ferociously private, deeply Christian couple who founded the store 24 years ago. “In L.A.’s Korean community they’re a constant topic of gossip and speculation. Everyone has a story about being screwed by them,†says a local fashion player. “But you have to admire their success. People join their church just to get close to them,†he adds…
Compared to their attention-addicted fashion-world colleagues, the Changs are careful to maintain a low profile. There is exactly one photograph of them available online. Last year, after consenting to an in-person interview with the New York Times, they unexpectedly sent a proxy instead. (The surprised reporter described the substitute interviewee as having “a born-again zeal.â€) Still, despite their best efforts, the intensely private pair have become a hotly discussed topic in L.A.’s close-knit apparel industry.
The variations and permutations that define fashion—hemlines, stitches, sleeves—sit outside of U.S. copyright law; only logos and are protected. “Just about every other area of creativity gets some kind of protection. Fashion design gets next to none.â€
says Susan Scafidi, a professor of copyright law at Fordham Law School who runs counterfeitchic.com. “And Forever 21’s rip-offs are, in many cases, extremely blatant.â€
But while the designs aren’t protected, the original fabric prints may be. Which is why, when Forever 21 produced a rose-patterned dress clearly “inspired†by a Betsey Johnson original in 2007, Betsey Johnson, Inc., didn’t sue. Instead, Carole Hochman Design Group, the Johnson vendor that actually created the pattern, took Forever 21 to court.
In a bid to curtail copycats, Representative William Delahunt introduced the Design Piracy Prohibition Act in 2007. As president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Diane von Furstenberg is a key proponent of the legislation. Oddly enough, though, she’s also one of the few claimants to have settled with Forever 21, under undisclosed terms in September.
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