Forever 21 goes British! (and christmassy).
This post is long overdue, I'm sorry! I managed to make it to the UK Forever 21 opening in Birmingham on 12th November. It was packed, as you can see from the crowd outside.
The good: the decor! It had me squealing in delight. There are union jacks! Hats! Telephone boxes! Big Ben! I love the way they have really made an effort to attempt to add the Forever21 brand to our British identity. Whether it will work, obviously, remains to be seen.
The bad: whether it was excited fashionistas or just christmas shoppers, I've never (in all my 11 years of living here) seen the Birmingham Bullring so packed.
The clothes. Honestly...I wasn't really impressed. They have a huge 'heritage' section, meaning jackets, layering, scarfs and the like. They also have a small men's section. The only section that impressed me was their sportswear. Their sports bras and sports tops for women look really supportive (if you know what I mean) and look made of breathable material. I didn't try any clothing on though, so I can't vouch for the discrepency in US/UK sizing. The other item I was interested in was their faux leather jackers for £20, which is very cheap, and the 'leather' didn't look tacky at all.
I have heard bloggers say that the opening of Forever 21 will hit H&M hard, and I didn't understand this as the price margins in the US aren't as expensive as H&M here so I didn't see them as competitors. However when they opened here, I realized what everyone meant. It's not so much the price, which undercuts H&M by a fair but, but the style and quality of the clothes. Walking into the first floor of Forever 21 all I could see was blousers and trousers that looked like they walked straight out of H&M, so I fear the bloggers are right and H&M, at least in Birmingham particularly, will suffer. On the bright side though, this might persuade H&M to lower their prices! (A shopper can dream...).
