Forever 21 was founded in 1984. Korean immigrants Do Won Chang and Jin Sook Chang opened the first store in Los Angeles that year, originally naming it Fashion 21.
The business began as a small shop serving Los Angeles customers and expanded rapidly by emphasizing inexpensive, trend-driven clothing. The name Forever 21 was adopted as the company grew and became a recognizable mall retailer in the United States and internationally.
A common mix-up is confusing the founding year with later milestones, such as the company’s major expansion during the 1990s and 2000s or its bankruptcy filings in 2019 and 2025. Those events changed the company’s ownership and retail footprint but did not change its founding date.
The year also places Forever 21 among the major American fast-fashion retailers that expanded during the late twentieth century, alongside brands such as H&M and Zara.