Understanding Forever 21’s Unethical Practices

By Elena Parrish on September 28, 2016

image via netdna-cdn.com

If you have ever been to any mall across America, you are most likely familiar with the popular retailer Forever 21. In the article “The Secret Behind Forever 21’s Dirt Cheap Clothing” by Melanie Hicken from Business Insider, she focuses on ethics and how Forever 21 has been taking advantage of many people in order to boost their profits.

We should all be interested in this topic because ethics has become a popular topic of discussion in recent years pertaining to how a business should be run. Consumers are becoming more and more aware of the ethical background of the businesses that they decide to purchase from. Businesses that use unethical methods such as “sweat-shop” labor or animal testing have seen a significant loss in their consumer base.

Also, companies such as Walmart have been the topic of negative discussion due to their treatment of employees. In this way, ethics is a very relevant factor in the overall outlook and success of a business in its marketplace. With all this in mind, and as future business owner hopefuls, we all hold ethics at the top of our lists. Reading about the scrutiny that Forever 21 has been under makes it even more clear to us how important it is to run a business the right way and to not take advantage of employees and industry workers.

For a young woman starting her career or attending a school, her ideal buy would be clothes that are trendy and cost efficient. From this young woman’s perspective Forever 21 is a dream come true. However, for Forever 21’s employees and manufacturers, the job they possess could very well be a nightmare. This article sheds light upon the idea that Forever 21’s cheap clothing is so because of unfair labor conditions and wages. Forever 21 has a responsibility to treat their employees fairly and allow them to work in conditions which all people deserve.

Their employees have reported being denied lunch breaks as well as pay. They take advantage of their in-store workers due to their lack of knowledge of their labor rights. Forever 21 has been accused of not distributing their worker’s earned pay and their clothing manufacturers in America have made complaints of “sweatshop conditions.” So what does Forever 21 decide to do after these lawsuits are filed? They decided to move their product production over to Asia so that they can treat manufacturers unethically abroad instead.

Many retailers such as the Gap Inc. and Levi Strauss have committed to not buy cotton from factories where forced child labor is used, but not Forever 21. If all of that is not simply enough to discourage everyone to boycott Forever 21 for being unethical, there has been a report from an American factory worker that Forever 21 is paying workers $.12 for each article of clothing they sew. At that rate the worker would need to make 67 vests in an hour just to hit minimum wage.

Another facet of ethics that Forever 21 has violated comes in the form of copyright infringement. Forever 21 has been accused of stealing the fashion designs of designers such as Anna Sui and the independent designer Trovata. Forever 21 has done this in order to ensure that they have clothes that fall within the lines of the current trends without having to employ their own designers. Although Forever 21 offers trendy clothing that resembles that of their higher-priced designer brand name competition, their products have shown to be far less valuable in terms of physical quality and durability.

It is evident the purpose behind Forever 21’s strategy: they are more focused on financial gain than the possible detriment that poor ethics could have on the company’s future. By implementing low or nearly illegal labor costs, Forever 21 is minimizing their production costs. This strategy can be likened to that of the corporate monster that is Walmart, which draws similar criticisms.

However, with these low production costs, they are still able to maintain a good quality perception from consumers due to following the current fashion trends. Low production costs also allow Forever 21 to have lower prices than its competition. Consumers are attracted to lowly priced, yet trendy products, thus resulting in a win-win for both the company and the consumer. Low prices save the consumer money, while the company increases their sales.

Although low prices are very simple for marketers to implement in their strategy, it is very difficult to hide the fact that Forever 21’s ethics are not up to par with the current trends in society.

In informing you about this company’s history and work behavior, I hope that we all as young adults can take the initiative to thoroughly research the places that we buy from. Not only for yourself but for the safety and well-being of the individuals who make your clothing or personal belongings!

image via ecouterre.com

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