r/Anticonsumption • u/Positive-Grape5126 • 8d ago

Corporations Lululemon CEO Upset

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I'll save you the read:

1) People are tightening their belts due to economic and political uncertainty and expensive leggings are not at the top of the list of necessities

2) People are more and more... GASP... Buying second hand clothes !!!!!

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u/Independent_War6266 8d ago

I saw someone panicking when they heard forever 21 was closing and I was like good. That’s literally the most garbage store ever and we don’t need more clothes. We all have enough clothes to probably last us forever.

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u/mjohnben 8d ago edited 8d ago

Don’t quote me on this, but I believe I saw an article recently about how there are enough clothes on the planet to clothe the next SEVEN generations of humans. I knew the situation was bad, but that was a real eye opener for me to read.

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u/deigree 8d ago

Isn't there a desert in Chile that a lot of the fast fashion companies dump their leftovers in? They'd rather throw it out than donate it to people in need. Fuck charity, right?

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u/Triviajunkie95 8d ago

Yes it’s true. Stuff doesn’t just disappear off the planet when you donate it. Years of crap are all still here just maybe in a South American desert. Just a damn shame.

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u/skankassful 8d ago

they dump brand new, unsold shit there as well. with tags and everything.

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u/Parallax1984 8d ago

You can’t have the unhoused walking around in lulu and Anthro.

I mean come on

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u/Internal_Prompt_ 7d ago

Should the guy in the $4000 suit hold the elevator for the guy who doesn’t make that in a month? Come on!

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u/WalkerTR-17 8d ago

These companies do donate a lot of clothing, believe it or not a lot of the clothes you donate end up in a landfill because other people don’t want them either. I volunteered at shelters through college and it was pretty common for us to get overloaded with donations because clients didn’t want most of it

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u/caitykate98762002 8d ago

While traveling in Kenya I learned that the nonstop supply of free donated clothing destroys business for local/traditional clothing makers and impacts their local economy pretty severely.

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u/WalkerTR-17 8d ago

There’s a lot of nuance with that but yes it does

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u/driftercat 8d ago

Even when I watch the news, I notice people in villages in less prosperous countries all over the world are wearing Nike and other name brand US clothing.

We need to stop spending money on our own clothes and start spending that extra money on (valid) charities that provide support, food, medicine and rebuilding to local economies.

I support https://www.kiva.org/. They make crowd funded loans to local businesses all over the world. There are a lot of other great charities as well.

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u/anonkitty2 8d ago

Ah, yes, the second-hand T-shirt industry.  National Geographic never recovered.

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u/deigree 8d ago

That's disappointing but not surprising. I guess there's not really a good way to recycle clothing on a large scale. The real solutions would be companies not constantly overproducing more than they can sell (regulations could fix this), and consumers learning how to reuse their own clothes instead of donating everything (making patches, cleaning rags, dog toys, etc). But neither of those are easy either. It's just frustrating because it doesn't have to be like this.

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u/WalkerTR-17 8d ago

Yeah idk man, I typically just buy stuff I know will last forever, turn it into rags when they finally give out, then it just usually gets thrown in the wood stove or something (yeah I know fire bad or whatever). Sometimes it’s from very consumerism brands tbh. George, Eddie Bauer, and lengendary whitetail flannels last forever. Grunt style t shirts last me 4-5 years of beating the shit out of them. Buying brands isn’t necessarily the problem, buying low quality brands you need to replace in a year and fast fashion definitely are. But no amount of regulation will change that in any way that won’t hurt your average person. Best thing to do is just show friends and family price comparisons. I just did that with a belt. I bought my US made leather belt 8 years ago and it’s still perfectly fine for $45, my friend was going to buy a “cheap” belt for $20 he replaces every 6-8 months because it wears out. Buying the more expensive quality offering thing actually saves him money

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u/rhinoceros_unicornis 8d ago

I save money by buying cheap shit and using that forever :)

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u/m0nkyman 7d ago

“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.” - Terry Pratchett, Men At Arms

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u/computerdesk182 8d ago

The owner of Abercrombie makes retailers tear and rip clothes before discarding to avoid homeless people wearing their brand.

So I disagree.

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u/Appropriate_Tie897 8d ago

Yep I worked at an Urban Outfitters that did this

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u/WalkerTR-17 8d ago

Okay yes we’re gonna pick one company that does stupid shit and make them the rule. Ignoring the majority of others that donate large portions of dead stock

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u/computerdesk182 8d ago

You implied "these companies" donate. Like these shitty fast fashion companies do good. When they dont. They all use shitty sweat shops in China or Vietnam. They don't donate anything in the name of geeed.

Abercrombie also owns A&E, Hollister, Gilly Hicks and social tourists. So more like 5 that we know of from one company. I'm pretty sure more companies follow that same lead.

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u/Commercial-Royal-988 8d ago

Some places won't even take the donations any more. One country in central Africa, I forget which, banned the import of clothing because it was collapsing the nation's primary industry: textiles.

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u/LiftSleepRepeat123 8d ago

We are the paperclip optimizer AI.

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u/pk-kp 8d ago

big brands usually just sell the clothes that doesn’t sell for a big discount to other discount stores, but when there’s leftover discounted clothes probably, there’s a lot of excess in general excess food being thrown away, plastic containers and so on

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u/IloveponiesbutnotMLP 8d ago

There was a vice documentary on Liberia, there are containers full of clothes polluting the country in the name of charity.

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u/Commercial_Sun_6300 8d ago

donate it to people in need

I'm pretty sure this is just not a thing anymore. No one is hurting for any decent clothes at all. There's just so much clothing everywhere now.

Sure, some people may find it difficult to find nice dress clothes or work shoes. But cheap t-shirts and leggings, which the landfills (and Chilean deserts I guess?) are full of? Nah, nobody wants those.

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u/tatojah 8d ago

They'd rather throw it out than donate it to people in need.

You'd be surprised to know that these days, a very large percentage of donated clothes ends up in the same place.

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u/RawrRRitchie 8d ago

They'd rather throw it out than donate it to people in need

Wait till you hear what farmers do if they can't sell their produce.

Hint it's not being donated

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u/Fartmasterf 8d ago

Have you ever looked into how the US and UK sending unwanted clothing to India and Africa devastated their textile industries - since they didn't need clothes anymore the businesses making clothing had to shift to other textile products or went under.

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u/rita-b 8d ago

people buy good clothes, the ones that end up in dead stock are ugly acrylic vomit-brown one-sleeve sequence crop tops.

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u/GuyWithLag 8d ago

I have a relative that works in clothes manufacturing. They deliver a shirt that is priced at 3 euros per piece to the brand, in lots of 10000, and it gets sold retail at 100 euros per. Now, the expectation that most of these will get trashed, but shelves must appear stocked, and customer behavior is difficult to predict far enough in advance.

It's still more worth it to the brands to create artificial scarcity than drop the price.

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u/Triviajunkie95 8d ago

I do estate sales and I haven’t seen a woman’s closet yet with less than 100-200+ pieces of clothes. We all have too much.

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u/pornographic_realism 8d ago

I have to actively fight my partner to stop buying me clothes like I have stuff I've owned for over a year and worn once at this point, stop buying me things.

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u/Triviajunkie95 8d ago

Keep fighting the good fight. We don’t need more crap. Even if it’s lovely garments. Just no.

I own enough stuff already. Buy me movie or theater tickets. That’s what makes me happy.

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u/davehunt00 8d ago

We're pretty much at "peak stuff"

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u/My_Reddit_Username50 8d ago

Min is: I work in a elementary school library and I’ve got 12 v-neck t-shirts from JCPenney and 2 pairs jeans from Walmart that I rotate through over almost 2 weeks. My 1 pair tennis shoes are Reeboks from Sam’s club for $24 and last 1.5 years before I buy new ones. I’d rather spend 1-$2 books from the thrift store than clothing that doesn’t even matter in life.

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u/Triviajunkie95 8d ago

I am a bit jealous of your capsule wardrobe. I could probably get rid of 75% of my closet if I was honest. I’d keep a funeral dress, a wedding guest dress, one women’s suit, and a few fun concert options.

My everyday wear consists of about 15-20 pieces. That’s my one load of laundry per week. I really need to pare down but I’d rather directly give my clothes to homeless women than donate at this point.

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u/akiraMiel 8d ago edited 8d ago

Do you count underwear with that? Because socks + underpants + undershirts + bras for women really do add to the number in my closet 🤔

I have three pairs of jeans but like 30 socks because one I change much more often than the other...

Just curious

Edit (because I can): I'm aware that I have a LOT of socks. My sock drawer is constantly overflowing. There used to be a time in my life where everyone gifted me socks for my birthday and I haven't bought or gotten new socks in two years. But I can't just throw them away if they don't have holes

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u/justlikesmoke 7d ago

I support cute socks. For years I wore the same color scrubs every day so my sock collection is huge. It will be another decade before I need to buy socks.

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u/astrangeone88 8d ago

I'm just annoyed with fast fashion trends and things that aren't made to last these days. I bought new underwear last year (lost a ton of weight) and like half of them are splitting and falling apart meanwhile I have underwear from the 90s that doesn't...

It's all very depressing that things aren't made to last because they want you to buy it again.

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u/savax7 8d ago

I saw a video posted by a Goodwill worker at one of their warehouses, and the place was packed floor to ceiling with bale after bale of used clothing.

It's one of the reasons I refuse to buy new clothes. Even if thrift stores keep raising their prices, I just just bring myself to purchase new knowing how much shit is out there already.

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u/justlikesmoke 7d ago

100% this. The public may scoff at high thrift prices but honestly spending $75 on new jeans vs $12 on nearly new jeans is often no comparison. I have found many items at Goodwill with tags on it, and I have donated items with tags on it.

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u/Familiar-Spare-7667 8d ago

We saw a documentary on Netflix about this very same thing and before that, I really never considered the damage of this volume of consumerism and what it means to the planet. My family has a very modest amount of clothes per person and I can make a pair of flip flops go a long way!

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u/sandwich_panda 8d ago

an eye opener for me was “everything you’ve ever owned and donated still exists on this planet”

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u/Independent_War6266 8d ago

Oh I definitely believe that

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u/d34dp1x3l 8d ago

I am 100% going to be quoting you, MJohnBen, when I use this in conversations. Sorry! ☺️

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u/diabeticweird0 8d ago

And there are still people who are like "there are poor people don't have clothes!"

No, no there aren't

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u/whycantistay 8d ago

I must have read the same thing… but honestly I thought it was the next EIGHT generations. Thrift clothes all the way.

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u/piecesmissing04 8d ago

I just bought my first new dress in 1 year and only as one of my other ones finally made it into the rags pile.. I also started sewing and use parts of clothes, that were too worn, to make new clothes.. decided 2 years ago to cut down on spending and it’s been life changing

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u/Icy-Pomegranate- 8d ago

I’d love for us to stop production for the things we already have enough of until it is needed again.

It’s like cleaning out the pantry, fridge, freezer before buying more food.

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u/Van-van 8d ago

Gonna be honest…got way more than 7 outfits..

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u/Samsterdam 8d ago

There is enough raw cotton in warehouses around the world to make everyone on the planet five tshirts.

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u/SasquatchIsMyHomie 8d ago

Ugh I can’t believe I’m even saying this but if F21 really is going out of business because of SHEIN and Temu, that’s even worse. F21 is a nightmare sweatshop garbage factory but a lot of their sweatshops were in LA. That’s how they could pump out trend pieces with such small lead times. But the way SHEIN does that is by individually air shipping everything from China, which is the same garbage with like 80x the shipping emissions.

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u/AntelopeGood1048 8d ago

Really because from what I read, their clothes are manufactured in china, Taiwan and Indonesia mainly

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u/SasquatchIsMyHomie 8d ago

They do that too but a lot of their quick turn stuff is domestic (still terrible working conditions)

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u/tiggerfan79 7d ago

I refuse to buy temu and SHEIN. I am now not buying any more clothes for now. Husband as well.

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u/TourMore7630 8d ago

And they are super trendy. No one wears that stuff for more than a season. What a waste!

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u/milfhunterwhitevan2 8d ago

Unfortunately not many people rewear what they’ve gotten from there. I absolutely love forever 21 jeans and have pairs that are 5+ years old and are holding up really well. Even though I like their stuff, they absolutely promote fast fashion so I don’t feel bad seeing them go

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u/snarkysparkles 8d ago

I have a couple pairs of black leggings from there that are going on probably 5 years now!! I'm a little shocked but happy lol. If they get ripped I'll just sew em up.

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u/milfhunterwhitevan2 8d ago

I have a ton of basic items that get weekly use from there. However these items were all bought at least 4 years ago. Now the stuff that I’ve gotten there falls apart after a few washes even when I put things in delicate dryer bags. It’s a shame.

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u/treasure-Influence27 8d ago

Wait. The delicates bag are for the washer. Delicates get air dried.

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u/MoulanRougeFae 8d ago

Really? I've got stuff from 7-8 yrs ago that I still wear, especially the jeans.

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u/Groovyjoker 8d ago

I have work clothes from 15 years ago! Still wear them. And my favorite office jackets, both bought all nice and broken in at a thrift store.

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u/AnotherRTFan 8d ago

I still had a lot of jewelry from them when I was a tween/teen. Had because I put some of it in my trinkets to trade bag for Comic Con a lot more in the women's shelter donation bag.

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u/UnNumbFool 8d ago

I literally have a sweater or two from forever 21 that I'm still wearing a decade on. Granted, it's an article of clothing I only wear a few months out of the year, but still as much as people shit on the quality to me it feels exactly the same as anything else from the price point

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u/Overall-Coyote-1353 7d ago

I do too. I have some pieces from their Plus size section before everything went super ugly. I have not been in there in ages, (I only wear a 16) but the fashion in that section was true garbage. It has been for quiet some time.

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u/Pantim 8d ago

Hrm, maybe I should go buy some matching sweat suits etc from them at a deeeeep discount hrm.

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u/Exact-Pudding7563 8d ago

I have a few items from Forever 21 that I bought maybe almost a decade ago now. The material is high quality and they don’t have holes or stitching coming out. Then I went into the store a couple years ago looking for a particular thing (that I didn’t find) and I noticed the quality of their clothes had dropped significantly. Like fabrics were threadbare and stitching was uneven and the like. I’m glad they’re closing because they contribute to fast fashion in the worst ways now.

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u/SmashedMarbles 8d ago

I have atleast 15 basic tanks, sweaters, and jewlery I bought at forever21 and love21 in 2012 I'm still wearing regularly. Yes, Quality has gone down, but I'll keep wearing those tanks for another 5+yrs. Not everyone wants trendy, I want thrifty and basic.

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u/itoldyousoanysayo 8d ago

I have quite a few items I bought back in highschool that are still in my closet from Forever21 that get regular wear. I'd have more if I hadn't gained 40lbs since high school. Honestly I never thought the quality was particularly egregious but maybe it's gotten worse in the last decade.

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u/offonaLARK 8d ago

I have a friend who works in a fashion industry job so she has to stay on top of trends. We wear similar sizes, so she does a closet cleanout every season or so and gives me everything she doesn't keep. The amount of Forever 21 tops that I've gotten from her with the tags still on is something that I shake my head over each time. (Not a lot is my style either, so I donate onward. I should learn better sewing techniques to update some of them instead.)

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u/SciFi_Wasabi999 8d ago

I used to call those "disposable clothes" because they'd fall apart after the first wear. Not everything, but 90% of it

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u/FlyAwayJai 8d ago

Au contraire. I have 1 (1!) skirt from there that I love and wore for at least 10 years. It’s now collecting dust in the back of my closet.

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u/MidsouthMystic 8d ago

What even are "trendy" clothes? I've been wearing the same t shirts and jeans for almost ten years.

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u/Level-Setting825 8d ago

That’s fashion in a nutshell - ever year you need to upgrade to “the latest”. I see clips of fashion runways at times and it baffles me that people fall for that ______.

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u/External_Two2928 8d ago

I used to buy basic, simple things, think like spaghetti slip dresses that I got for $20 or less and wore them for almost a decade loll when the dresses got too old looking I cut them into tops

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u/Shreddedlikechedda 5d ago

It’s so sad because I used to buy their stuff in high school and the pieces I picked were amazing (not the nicest fabric but the quality was excellent for what I paid), I still have a bunch of the things I bought back then, like my $2 cotton tank top I’ve worn and washed probably over 100 times (the stitching is loose at the bottom but it’s still in great shape).

That’s kinda the case with most of the clothes I bought before like 5 years ago. The quality of everything has kinda tanked

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u/Free_Farmer4006 8d ago

It’s also not closing. It’s going through chapter 11 bankruptcy, which just means they have to sell off a ton of their stuff so they can pay back some debts. They’ve done it before, I’m almost wondering if it’s their business strategy at this point.

Some individual locations will probably close, but it’s not going out of business.

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u/Routine_Ask_7272 8d ago

They’re planning to close all stores, and shutdown operations, unless they can find a buyer

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/03/17/forever-21-files-for-second-bankruptcy-blames-shein-and-temu.html

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u/Hansmolemon 8d ago

I heard Leonardo DiCaprio was interested but it was a bit old for him.

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u/sluttyuglysweaters 8d ago

I cackled at this, lmao thank you for that

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u/InfoSecPeezy 8d ago

They could change the name to Forever 19…

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u/brendanjered 8d ago

The could change the name to Forever 16 and start attracting Republican politicians and voters.

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u/DialZee 8d ago

They could change it to “Forever 8 year old Ivanka” and attract Donald.

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u/Gloomy_Setting5936 8d ago

This was the most savage out of all of them dude 🤣

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u/agreenshade 8d ago

They could change it to Forever 14 and attract Christian Fundamentalists.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

Hey, Matt Gaetz! Buy something or get out!

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u/EvoKov 8d ago

Matt Gaetz has entered the chat

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u/Ok_Nothing_9733 8d ago

They could change the name to Forever 19 and start attracting all of the redditors in the top comments of a popular post from the other day getting thousands of upvotes for saying it is perfectly normal for men of any age to want to have sex with teenagers. Was by far y’all’s majority opinion, good job! Sometimes I can briefly forget the absurd bias on here but there it was.

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u/dellive 8d ago

It’s a shitty brand with its best days behind it.

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u/swishkabobbin 8d ago

They could pull an Elon and sell it to themselves

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u/Octoclops8 8d ago

I have $12.45, but I'm waiting for one of their "buy one distressed business, get one half off" specials.

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u/Fabulous_Celery_1817 8d ago

I thought I read an article that detailed they are in the same situation as toys r us had back in the day. I mean they still suck,,, but a hostile take over is still one no? Wasn’t it on this sub that I read that?

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u/SylvanDsX 8d ago

Yep Cherry Hill mall is F21 closing and this is a prime busy mall.

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u/CatZebraOrZebraCat 8d ago

I was about to be so surprised. They just seem to survive everything. The cockroach of clothing retailers, if you will.

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u/Short_Departure_4064 8d ago

spirit of forever twenty-ween

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u/PartyPorpoise 8d ago

Some company will probably buy the brand name to use, but the stores will be gone. SHEIN beat them at their sales strategy and they couldn't shift to something else.

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u/ksj 8d ago

This isn’t an attempt to restructure, this is an actual liquidation. The brand name will still exist, but the company as it currently exists is not going to recover like it briefly did following their first bankruptcy.

The fast-fashion retailer has already started going out of business sales at more than 350 locations, but is still holding out hope a buyer could materialize and take over operations.

The operating company's U.S. business is headed for outright liquidation, but the brand name will live on under its owner, Authentic Brands Group.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/03/17/forever-21-files-for-second-bankruptcy-blames-shein-and-temu.html

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u/Now_Wait-4-Last_Year 8d ago

Coincidentally, I caught no less than three cockroaches in our bathroom when I went to use it early this morning and threw them all out the window.

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u/Suitable-Ad6999 8d ago

Why don’t they sell it to xAI? Then all financial issues go away for them? Then it can become Forever 21X? Like the Dept of Ed, the SEC will be soon be gone next, problem solved

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u/GildedZen 8d ago

Forver Chapter 11

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u/IAmTheQuestionHere 8d ago

Why is it even called bankruptcy if they're just selling things to pay their debts? That's just normal and how paying back debts works. 

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u/Free_Farmer4006 8d ago

That’s a valid question. The answer is that under ch 11 bankruptcy the court orders the company to take actions it wouldn’t normally take (like selling items at a loss) in order to get as much money back to its creditors as possible. If the company under ch 11 complies with the court, it has a chance to stop itself from going out of business entirely.

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u/SweetRabbit7543 8d ago

Yeah and there is also relief from certain debts which is why some people use it strategically. Some even more than once.

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u/TheseusPankration 8d ago

In chapter 11, the court will allow them to do things they normally can't, like break leases without penalty. It will also stop creditors from just taking what they are owed with court orders. They will be selling and paying back debt, but under a court appointed rep who will keep things from spinning out of control.

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u/carolina8383 8d ago

The lease breaking is big—it makes it easy to shut down poor performing stores that otherwise they’d have to hold on to for several years. Most people don’t really realize how long retail store leases can extend, and most stores lease because of how owned property depreciates on a balance sheet. 

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u/juliankennedy23 8d ago

All US based stores are closing. It is its second chapter 11.

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u/Free_Farmer4006 8d ago

From their official website “Decisions about which stores will ultimately close are ongoing, pending further discussions with landlords and potential buyers”

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u/Phebe-A 8d ago

Also known as chapter 22. The very few companies that make it to chapter 33 seldom survive

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u/Thewall3333 8d ago

Like the same furniture stores (at least around here) that have "going out of business" sales year after year.

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u/lasttimeilooked 8d ago

Forever Chapter 21.

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u/TokyoTurtle0 8d ago

It's been doing that for nearly a decade

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u/shorttimelurkies 8d ago

I remember shopping there with my mom as a teen and she noticed their return policy - store credit only. Bad business.

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u/Hillary-2024 8d ago

The one near me is closing so it may as well be, next closest is two more towns away

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u/Capitaahh 8d ago

Sounds like just starting a new run in a Roguelite video game.

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u/thirtyone-charlie 8d ago

That is the model for some names. Start off heavy hitter reduce quality and service and optimize profits for as long as you can then dump it for a loss.

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u/MAsharona 8d ago

I'm at Foxwoods for the weekend and saw them emptying their location in the outlet mall here earlier today.

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u/Tiny_Mastodon_624 8d ago edited 7d ago

When I was in my teen years, I worked for the express/limited brands as a stocker. 

Everyday there would be tons of new clothes arriving along with replenishments of some existing items. 

Everyday I would take so much fabric off the shelves to bin it and ship it out. Fast forward some number of years and I’m in Iraq. There are places where there are mountains of this shit dumped. It happens all over. It ends up in landfill. All of it. 

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u/Independent_War6266 8d ago

This still blows my mind. We literally sell our garbage to under developed countries.

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u/ConiferousTurtle 8d ago

They’re closing because people buy directly from China through Shein and whatever other companies. They don’t get charged tariffs because it’s under a certain amount. Forever 21 can’t compete. So people may or may not be buying less clothes.

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u/Significant_Meal_630 8d ago

The same people that would buy at Forever 21?are the ones ordering from those cheap online Chinese sites .

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u/Hubert_J_Cumberdale 8d ago

Yep. SHEIN and Temu are notorious for copying brand name clothing… at least half the price.

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u/AntelopeGood1048 8d ago

Guess who manufactures clothes for forever 21 you complete FM

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u/statslady23 8d ago

The new sportswear store is alo. Lulu and Athleta are out. 

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u/jennixred 8d ago

i keep hoping they'll sell of the 20 acre facility they've been keeping DEAD AND USELESS for 15+ years now in lincoln heights.

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u/Alecarte 8d ago

Isn't that the store being used as an example for how broken everything is though?  Like yeah I get it who gives a fuck about a garbage "fashion" outlet or whatever, but a retail business where like 97% of its locations are profitable is declaring bankruptcy?  That should be alarming.  The mega rich are intentionally crashing everything so they can buy up everything on the cheap and force everyone into ind"rent"ured service.

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u/TheCosplayCave 8d ago

Yeah I'm PISSED about Joanne Fabrics. It's the only decent fabric store near me, and they were expanding and profitable before some private equity decided to buy them out and liquidate everything. From what I've read about private equity it's essentially like a hostile takeover.

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u/dahlia-llama 8d ago

Go to superstonk and have fun reading about private equity.

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u/TheCosplayCave 8d ago

I do not think I will enjoy it. Why can't I be a private equity and just "buy" any profitable business which now is in debt the amount of money it cost to be bought? It just sounds like embezzlement made legal.

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u/dahlia-llama 7d ago

A huge aspect of the sub is the absolute horrendousness of private equity, with some very interesting deep-dive learning materials about the practice

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u/Horror_Implement_445 8d ago

It’s just the result of their low cost high profit business model. They torpedoed themselves.

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u/sufinomo 8d ago

I wear clothes from 15 years ago, I know that sounds crazy lol but they are in good shape.

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u/xo0O0ox_xo0O0ox 8d ago

Same! If you buy quality, classic stuff in the first place - it lasts for decades.

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u/deityblade 8d ago

Easier said then done though. A lot of people pay extra thinking they are buying quality, but get sold they same garbage that falls apart

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u/Strict-Chicken4965 8d ago

Also a lot of people won't stay the same size

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u/GeneralKeycapperone 8d ago

True.

Paying attention to the fabric and the construction of the garment is usually a good clue though. Some things are less likely to deteriorate with normal use & care, and easier to repair if they do become damaged.

It so happens that many of those fabrics also happen to be easier to repurpose if the garment becomes too damaged for repair.

Same applies to household furnishings, and indeed most things we use.

I feel like education about this stuff, and the time & energy to use that education well, is similar to knowledge about nutrition & food. Would love to see templates for developing systems for meals & clothing which operate a bit like the men's sheds model, where equipment & supplies & space & expertise are shared by small, local groups, along with social contact & community spirit.

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u/Triviajunkie95 8d ago

I have clothes that could buy beer.

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u/thirsty_pretzels_ 8d ago

Doesn’t sound crazy at all

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u/DriftingIntoAbstract 8d ago

Really?? That does surprise me!

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u/deigree 8d ago

I'm 28 and still have clothes from middle school. I went through a phase of wearing really baggy clothes so they still fit.

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u/Tremble_Like_Flower 8d ago

I have clothes are so thread bare the tensile strength is what does them in.

They get so soft and wonderful I can’t let them go and I just end up ripping them and they finally go to the rap pile for their second life.

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u/TokyoJimu 8d ago

Some of the clothes I wear say “Made in Hong Kong”. This tells me I bought them in the 1980s because no one has made clothing there since then.

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u/millijuna 8d ago

I don't... Mostly because I wear them until they're so threadbare that they're holier than a baptismal font.

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u/frank77-new 8d ago

I swear my favorite pair of jeans is around 20 years old. They feel amazing, soft and worn in, have some tears that look good, and they fit perfectly.

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u/AinsiSera 8d ago

That’s what a lot of people are missing on the LLL front - 

It started as a luxury product for high end consumers. Which meant it was a high quality product. Then, the middle class discovered it and was like “at last! These are expensive but they are super high quality and therefore justify the purchase price.”

So what did LLL do? Give you 3 guesses and the first 2 don’t count. That’s right, they cut the quality! So their luxury customers left both because of the quality shift and of course because The Poors found the brand. But then the middle class customers are leaving because the price no longer justifies the brand. 

There is a market for the middle class looking for goods that will last, and we will pay for them! But what we won’t do, in this economy, is pay for the quality label after the quality has faded. 

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u/babybirdhome2 8d ago

Part of that might be that you bought them 15 years ago.

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u/domesticbland 8d ago

That’s where my friends would go before heading out to the club.

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u/Broken_Atoms 8d ago

Forever chapter 11

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u/Joebuddy117 8d ago

“We all have enough clothes to last us forever”. The main 4 shirts I wear are very old. The oldest I got in probably 2012, maybe older. Most of them are 10 years old at least.

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u/Tarik_7 8d ago

F21 is literally the most garbage tier store i have ever seen... everything there is crap quality and overpriced

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u/Economic_Revolt 8d ago

I say this all the time. People ask me what I want for such and such an occasion. I literally have more stuff than anyone could conceivably consume in a normal human lifetime.

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u/Triviajunkie95 8d ago

I feel you. Our family is also this way. We don’t need anymore “stuff”. Unless something specific is asked for, we give experiences.

Our Christmases are exchanges of local or city theater tickets, concerts, botanical gardens, etc. We all love it! It is great because it means we agree to hang out again in a month, 2 months, etc. and we enjoy spending time together.

We all leave our Christmas gathering with about one gift bag each with everything (tickets) in it. Maybe a nice candle or scarf but not much else. It’s fantastic!!!!

We also don’t have any “littles”. Our youngest family member is 20 so we don’t have to bother with toys, etc and the 20 yr old just prefers cash.

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u/nordzeekueste 8d ago

Have you ever heard of Primark?

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u/Independent_War6266 8d ago

Yes

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u/nordzeekueste 8d ago

One can only hope they go the same way.

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u/Magical_Olive 8d ago

I went to a Primark for the first time recently and the lack of quality of the clothing was honestly shocking. I've seen way nicer stuff from F21 or Shein. Their sweaters felt like they'd be painful to wear.

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u/-RedXV- 8d ago

Exactly. Whenever my wife and I go out on a date or whatever event she always says "Nothing fits me. I have nothing to wear." And she goes out and buys clothes. And then I say..."How about you wear the outfit from last month that you went and bought after saying that exact same thing or even the outfit from the month before that?".

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u/Triviajunkie95 8d ago

Sorry bro but she is part of the problem unless she buys from thrift or consignment.

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u/VoidOmatic 8d ago

Even back in the early 2000s nobody shopped there. It was always Aeropostale, Pacific Sunwear and Hollister.

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/Independent_War6266 8d ago

Are we the same person? I don’t see how people manage all these clothes. A few years back I threw a good bit of my clothes away just so I wouldn’t have to deal with them all.

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u/JohnSith 8d ago

[i]s literally the most garbage store ever

Only if you judge them by their clothes. I'm going to paraphrase what a redditor said (about a different industry): fast fashion isn't in the business of selling clothes; they're in the business of selling dopamine.

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u/Independent_War6266 8d ago

Well they got that sh*t locked down.

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u/Rabid_Sloth_ 8d ago

I haven't purchased a new article of clothing in years asides from socks and briefs. Everything in my closet is probably a gift from my mother or an ex girlfriend at some point lol.

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u/Planeandaquariumgeek 8d ago

Forever 21 is a flawless example of capitalizing on a trend (in this case the trend of identifying of 21) banking on it lasting, then it doesn’t last and they close up shop

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u/bingtanghooloo 8d ago

Clothes from there can be worn and washed twice and it'll change shape or break so it's garbage

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u/Uncertn_Laaife 7d ago

Last time I did shopping for the clothes was before Covid. I am a man, working from home in my PJs. I open my closet and those brand new looking shirts are staring at me feeling helpless. If I buy new clothes then it’s not only bad for my pockets, environment, but also a disservice to those helpless clothes feeling exuberant every time I open my closet.

No more new clothes, thus.

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u/Economy-Ad4934 7d ago

I got heavier recently from eating properly and going to the gym. Guess who had to buy new summer clothes? 😭

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u/Goddddammnnn 8d ago

…21. (Sorry I had to)

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u/OkSmoke9195 8d ago

probably last us forever.

As long as your forever is 21

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u/Octoclops8 8d ago

Nothing lasts forever.

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u/peeksa_y_peksee 8d ago

Forever 21 but she just turned 30

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u/i8noodles 8d ago

most fast fashion brands suck anyways, they dont even last forever. u will probably have to replace them within a year or 2 anyhows due to shitty quality

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u/SuccotashSeparate 8d ago

I was trying to explain the concept of fast fashion to a gen z coworker who loves that store and it wasn’t connecting with him. He was just so distraught about it.

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u/juniper_berry_crunch 8d ago

If fast fashion disappears, good riddance.

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u/smashkraft 8d ago

Do you actually have enough clothes for forever? I have like maybe 2 weeks of clothes, 3 weeks if I wear the stuff with holes and stuff that definitely doesn’t fit. And that 2 week wardrobe was after a recent purchase. Before that, I didn’t have clothes to go into work.

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u/Independent_War6266 8d ago

Yes. I have plenty of clothes for every season. Plenty of tops, bottom, jackets, coats, even shoes. I like plain looking clothes that probably won’t ever go out of fashion. I have nice formal, semi formal, professional and whatever other occasion. I don’t mind repeating outfits, but I also know how to style my clothes, so repeating clothes doesn’t alway look like repeats. It’s called a “capsule wardrobe”. Even though I have a bit more than a capsule. I have some polyester, but I prioritize quality fabrics. I prefer real leather shoes and they can be easily purchased secondhand. Quality things last longer especially shoes. Quality also doesn’t really go out of style in my opinion. It was made to last.

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u/plantmamacita 8d ago

I totally agree. Unfortunately one of the reasons they are closing is because they can’t keep up with SHEIN and Fashion Nova. We’re trapped in fast fashion hell.

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u/undercover_s4rdine 8d ago

I thought they closed years ago, then reopened recently?

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u/haw35ome 8d ago

Honestly I’m super sad they’re closing - I’d rather keep them than shein tbh. But I also recognize they’re the og shein of malls & their quality has gone downhill for at least a decade. And yeah, uh I cannot remember when I last shopped at forever 21

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u/rantgoesthegirl 8d ago

And this is how I learned forever 21 reopened

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u/dgreenbe 8d ago

"forever 21 can no longer compete with fast fashion"

Oh like forever 21 but with bigger or with fewer middlemen lol

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u/Truethrowawaychest1 8d ago

Yay retail stores are closing, putting people out of work and making Amazon a monopoly

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u/Independent_War6266 8d ago

If you’ve ever worked retail you would probably be glad for the break and an unemployment check. There are still retail opportunities out there.

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u/_c3s 8d ago

You’d think that, but the quality is so shit that it’d probably last us about a year.

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u/jaxmax13579 8d ago

Unfortunately it's only closing because they're being replaced by newer bigger garbage fast fashion/fast commerce companies that are even worse, such as Shein and Temu.

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u/Xackorix 8d ago

What a weird comment, god forbid someone not want a store they like that matches their style to not close , weirdo

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u/Independent_War6266 8d ago

Lmfao they’re clothes. Don’t worry they’ll all be at the thrift store for the same price or higher.

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u/lizard-garbage 8d ago

Idk I’ve had forever 21 button ups last me over 10 years and one of my favorite coats I got there. I do understand the gripe of putting random words on cute items though.