Bloomberg is reporting that Forever 21, the design-stealing, sweatshop-using, Chick-fil-A of fast fashion brands, could be preparing to file for bankruptcy.
According to Bloomberg’s anonymous sources, the company has been “working with advisers to help restructure its debt” while trying to stir up some cash, “but negotiations with possible lenders have so far stalled” due to a number of factors, the most pressing being co-founder Do Won Chang’s reluctance to part with his controlling stake.
To add some palace intrigue to the proceedings, Bloomberg reported that a “faction of Forever 21 officials, without the approval of Chang, had asked its biggest landlords to consider taking a stake in the company,” but that effort failed as well.
So now, the focus has “shifted toward securing a potential debtor-in-possession loan to take the company into Chapter 11… even as some window remains to strike a last-minute deal that keeps it out of court.”
(Forever 21 didn’t comment, for the zeros of you out there worrying about their side of things.)
And though the filing would “help the company shed unprofitable stores and recapitalize the business,” store closures would crush another ailing sector: American Malls. As the story noted, they currently occupy millions of square footage across the country, making them “one of the biggest mall tenants still standing.”
You (sort of, I guess) hate to see it.
You can read more about it at Bloomberg.
