The company was founded in California in the 1980s and will now cease operations in 40 countries, including Canada and Japan,
The clothing chain expects to continue operating hundreds of stores in the United States and its online store, although 178 stores will be closed on the home market.
"What we hope to do with this process is just to simplify things so that we can get back to what we do best," says Linda Chang, daughter of the founders and member of corporate management, to The New York Times.
Forever 21 has a similar layout to H&M and Zara, with modern but cheap clothing. However, sales have plummeted from $ 4.4 billion in 2016 to 3.3 billion last year. The chain has also been affected by plant pain after an aggressive launch in new markets. The company announced earlier this year that it was leaving China.
"The retail market is obviously changing, there has been a decline in shopping center traffic and sales are shifting more towards online," says Chang.