Forever 21 Maternity Line Launches In States With High Teen Pregnancy

Fast fashion chain Forever 21 is launching a maternity line under the name Love 21 and, for right now, it will be available only in five states: Arizona, Alaska, California, Utah, and Texas. The eagle-eyed bloggers at The Gloss point out that three of those five (Arizona, California, and Texas) are on the list of states with the highest percentages of teen pregnancy. As for why Forever 21 picked Alaska and Utah...well, you can draw your own conclusions. Let's just say the brand clearly has a targeted marketing plan.

Comments

[Victoria Sylvestre]

10:59 PM on 08/01/2010

so? i have clothes from there and i'm 44- they are cute and cheap. i always thought forever 21 was just a way of saying that you are forever 21 in your heart, and here's some clothes that help you look that way too. i really don't think that girls are going to get pregnant too young just so they can get maternity clothing there. (i'm just envious of all the cute maternity clothes out there these days, lol)

[Ashley Fairbanks]

11:20 AM on 07/22/2010

This really looks like it should be an Onion article.

[Julia Hanna]

01:45 AM on 07/21/2010

This is really not that big of a deal since everyone knows teens have babies, and whether Forever 21 caters to them or not will not change that. I used to buy clothes there up until several years ago, but I have not been back since. I was in my late twenties at the time and saw women in their 50's shopping there for themselves, so many of their fashions do appeal to a wide age base. My bone of contention with Forever 21 is that they do make clothes for women that are more hippy, and these fit oddly in those areas. I mostly only bought tops or dresses there and never pants for that reason.

[katykat33]

07:02 PM on 07/20/2010

Im 25 and My sister is 28 and we have both for the couple of years bought from the Love21 line, we like that line the most because it has a more modest fit(i wear a Small insted of a larger in the regular forver 21 lines). The fact that there are adding a maternity section is no different than any other womens store that carries both juniors and misses sizes.

[Winged LightCarrier]

09:49 AM on 07/20/2010

I just don't understand the hype. This store is a business who provides for the needs of its customers. We have a high % of teen pregnancy so it only makes sense to expand to that age group. This store did not contribute to teens getting pregnant they only provide affordable clothes for those teens who are. Let's take this back to the homes and schools people.

[twifright cullenfan]

01:33 AM on 07/20/2010

My pregnant older sister shops there and she isn't a teen. My mom would even wear some of the clothes there.

[sahm27]

11:55 PM on 07/19/2010

I am 27 and I shop there. I had my daughter when I was 24 and was completely embarrassed to wear 90% of the maternity clothes available. Everything cute had to be purchased online...which is incredibly difficult with sizing while you are pregnant. The only other option is the Motherhood Maternity store in the mall, who seems to cater to age 35+ pregnant women. Forever 21 is catering to the 20 something moms who aren't ready to dress like their mothers yet. Good thinking Forever 21!

[Dottedvoile]

11:29 PM on 07/19/2010

i guess macy's and jcpenny should stop selling maternity clothes b/c they also sell teen clothing...and H&M has ALWAYS had a maternity section and it's a young adult/teen store. not sure why everyone is up in arms over this. I could see if limited too or Justice was selling maternity clothes.

[Kimbol]

01:24 AM on 07/21/2010

The difference between Macy's and JCPenny is that they aren't marketed towards teenies. Every girl knows Macy's is NOT a hip place for young people to shop. Why do you think they hired Taylor Momsen and Madonna's daughter to push their new Macy's exclusive fashion line? To make Macy's more appealing to young people. Their juniors' section sucks. Macy's is marketed to grown women first and foremost. Their men's section and junior's section is like an afterthought.

Forever 21 is geared towards teenies who wish they were grown up. Go to their website. The FIRST thing you see is "STANDOUT FROM THE CROWD, GET NOTICED WITH BACK-TO-SCHOOL-MUST-HAVES" and a bunch of Gossip Girl inspired sketches (and right underneath that, a link to their maternity line). Does that look like they believe their target consumers are grown women? It's not a coincidence that they chose the (red) states with the highest teen pregnancy rates to launch this line. I shop at Forever 21 but this just gives another reason to glamorize teen pregnancy.

[Pinkasaurus]

11:27 PM on 07/19/2010

Verrrryyy interesting...

[jjbertramiv]

11:23 PM on 07/19/2010

So every Red state right? LOL

[Darkduck]

03:22 PM on 07/13/2010

What does this say about girls who wear Forever 21. Dumb enough to shop here, dumb enough not to use a condom!

Joking, joking. Most of these girls don't even know what store this is because in the mall its called Forever XXI. They wouldn't get the joke anyway.

[trixbug]

09:06 AM on 07/13/2010

I've also seen this line in Massachusetts Forever 21s.

[FortyWeeks]

08:37 AM on 07/13/2010

I've already dubbed this collection: "Knoced up at the Mall" ...what an abuse of their trusting teeny market. There are plenty of inexpensive, adorable materntiy clothes out there, no that is not it. Consider instead the meeting in which some marketing child spells out the glory and profit potential of this one...total abuse the relationship between brand and consumer, IMO. Here is what my readers had to say about it...http://www.fortyweeks.com/content/gag-me-oh-no-wait-i-am-already-sick/

[toxicbrainpoison]

02:47 AM on 07/13/2010

Straight from cartel terrorized sweatshops in Northern Mexico to your knocked up daughter who never learned about contraception.

[Darkduck]

03:17 PM on 07/13/2010

LOL

[Phil11514]

02:27 AM on 07/13/2010

If young women in Arizona, Alaska, California, Utah, and Texas were competently taught the basics of performing oral sex, Forever 21's prospects for selling tons of maternity clothes would melt away like an ice cram cone on a hot sidewalk in Phoenix.

[Ashley Fairbanks]

11:23 AM on 07/22/2010

I don't see why this is flagged as abusive. All he is saying is he, get these girls some Cosmo subscriptions, and the teen pregnancy rates will drop. Most of the girls in abstinence only systems wouldn't know that you can't get pregnant from oral sex though, so they wouldn't understand the alternative.