Forever 21

Retail

Joint venture between Simon Property Group, a retail real estate company and Authentic Brands Group, a brand development company. SPARC stands for Simon Property Authentic Retail Concepts. In 2023 Chinese fast fashion company Shein bought a 33% stake.

Brand development and licensing

Purchases brands in the sports, celebrity and fashion categories and licenses the intellectual property to leading retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers worldwide. Acquired Juicy Couture in 2013, Tretorn in 2015 and Nautica and Nine West in 2018. Bought Van Heusen, Arrow and Izod from PVH, and Reebok from Adidas in 2021. Acquired Ted Baker in 2022 and Boardriders and Rockport in 2023. Private equity firms BlackRock, CVC and HPS own significant stakes.

Real estate investment trust

The largest owner of shopping malls in the United States.

Fast fashion

Founded in China in 2008 by Chris Xu, Shein has quickly become the world's largest fashion retailer, surpassing H&M and Zara. The company has no physical stores and exists almost entirely on social media. While production is still primarily in China, Shein moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2022 in an attempt to distance itself from China. Ships to 220 countries. In 2023 Shein bought the Missguided brand from Frasers Group, and acquired 33% of Forever 21 parent company SPARC.