Forever21 has a new maternity clothing line

Forever21, the bible-bagging fab-finds-on-a-budget women's clothing store, now has a maternity line. I don't know, it just seems to send the wrong message somehow.

Love21 Maternity

I'm a contributing editor here at Boing Boing. I also have a blog (TokyoMango), a book (Urawaza), and I freelance for Wired, Make, the NY Times Magazine, PRI's Studio360, etc. I'm @tokyomango on Twitter.

MORE: Weird

More at Boing Boing

Ants and Stars: Bruce Sterling and Jasmina Tesanovic visit the Sardinia Radio Telescope in Italy

The Snowden Principle

bja009

http://bit.ly/bnAdWk
Not sure if that counts as ‘making the customer proselytize.’ It’s on the bottom of the bag, small print. It’s kind of like if you walked down a loud, crowded street whispering ‘FSM loves you’ under your breath. Hardly proselytizing.
- grimc
  
  Ah. The BB link has a picture where it looks like it’s on the side of the bag.
  - bja009
    
    Yeah, that’s the same bag, just flattened out so you can’t see where the crease is between the side panel and the bottom.
- cinemajay
  
  I’m not sure the definition of proselytizing includes having to shout it from a street corner with a bullhorn. Haven’t you ever heard of a whisper campaign? Early Christians perfected it–and modern day ones still use it on the back of every damn bumper or rear-door panel.
LovelyAndroid

Pregnant women are smug. But if I were forced to be pregnant, I might wear this line.

That said, pregnant teenagers everywhere are rejoicing.
- Anonymous
  
  Smug women who are pregnant are smug pregnant women. Fixed it fer ‘ya.
  
  For the vast majority of us, pregnancy isn’t fun, pleasant or exciting. There’s not much to be smug about. 40 weeks of missery followed by a lifetime of worrying.
Anonymous

another confused reader. it took me years of shopping at f21 to finally turn over the bag and see the john quote. it’s not even the quote, it’s just the biblical url. i have no idea what it means.

regarding selling maternity clothes, holla! i’m not knocked up or anything, but if it ever happens i’m skipping right over jc penney and heading right to f21. that was my dread about pregnancy for a number of years- what the hell do you wear, sweat pants? hell no.
yes, i’m serious. yes, i’m shallow. whatevs.
Anonymous

I don’t know what Forever 21 stores the people complaining have been to. In my experience most of the girls shopping there are in high school. For every actual 21 year-old there are a dozen 16 year-olds… it’s aspirational, sort of like Seventeen magazine. So yeah, having teenage skank-wear (which you have to admit some of the clothes is) next to maternity clothes is kind of jarring. The bible verse is neither here nor there, unless they start printing Leviticus 19:19 (“Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee.”)
- chgoliz
  
  ITA. Forever 21 is a store for 12-16 year olds who dream of looking like they’re 21.
  
  A devout young Christian woman who married at 18 in order to have morally sanctioned sex is not the sort of person shopping at Forever 21, for maternity clothes or anything else.
Lisa Katayama

I think it’s safe to say that being pregnant and 21 is not in sync with the current stereotype of the modern progressive woman, which is Forever21′s selling point. Or… maybe they’re more progressive than I am, and it is now cool to be 21, pregnant, and trendy.
- Brainspore
  
  So to summarize, this sends “the wrong message” (your words) because it doesn’t conform to a stereotype (also your words). Huh.
  - Lisa Katayama
    
    Their message, not mine… is what I meant.
- BurntHombre
  
  I think it’s safe to say that being pregnant and 21 is not in sync with the current stereotype of the modern progressive woman, which is Forever21′s selling point. Or… maybe they’re more progressive than I am, and it is now cool to be 21, pregnant, and trendy.
  
  Thanks for the context, Lisa! I do think they have a broader customer base than just 21-year-olds, which may explain whey they’re in the maternity-wear market.
- astridnannerl
  
  Ok but having “21″ in the name doesn’t imply that only people aho are aged 21 or under can shop there. It’s like saying if you are over 17 you can’t read Seventeen magazine anymore.
  - Church
    
    “Ok but having “21″ in the name doesn’t imply that only people aho are aged 21 or under can shop there.”
    
    Huh? It’s “Forever 21″ which implies 21 and onwards.
- TheNipponese
  
  So are they progressive or are they evangelists? Frankly, I don’t think their brand is either. I guess I would describe them as “Last season’s LA hipster.”
aliciainwonderland

At first glance the ad seems a little wonky because people tend to associate Forever21 with teenagers but the company has been trying to become more than that.

They’ve been expanding their consumer base for the past year or so. Within the last year they’ve added a plus size line, men’s wear, a line obviously aimed at older women (love21), and even kid’s clothing.
- surreality
  
  As a young woman with a chest, the plus size clothes are a blessing! Although they’re not in all the stores, unfortunately. A maternity line does seem a little weird from a store with a mostly younger demographic, but I think they’re trying to expand their business.
  
  I actually didn’t know anything about the Christianity aspect – didn’t ever examine my shopping bag that closely…
aliciainwonderland

I worry about how bad their labor conditions must be considering they sell decent jeans at $9.
Brainspore

OK, in all fairness I just noticed something that actually does make this marketing strategy a little bit scandalous for a Christian company – the women modeling the clothes on the web site aren’t wearing wedding bands.
Anonymous

And the first thing I think is: “Wow, maybe there will finally be something that fits me at that store now”

(I typically wear a juniors/misses XL, which does not exist at Forever 21)
Ernunnos

A name like “Forever 21″ implies that many of their customers aren’t 21 any longer. Perhaps they wish to be, but they’re not. I don’t see anything remarkable about people wanting to hang on to youth, advertisers playing to that desire, or women in their 20s having kids. That’s about as normal as it gets.
Zan

#39, despite the name, Forever21 hasn’t catered to the over 21 crowd in a long time. Having been dragged in there a few times by my much younger sister, I can tell you that their clientelle is mostly tweens. I think I was the only customer in the store over 18.
kristenobacter

Whatever! I’m pregnant and the big sizes don’t fit me. There is so little decent, affordable maternity. This is great news!
Rosetta

Seems like a great idea to me. When I’ve bought clothes there they’ve fallen apart after being worn a few times, so its great for something where you only need the clothes temporarily, like maternity clothes.
Anonymous

I’m confused, wasn’t Forever21 the Kinderwhore store of choice for the newly out on their own, living Bratz Doll wanna bes and still sort of youngish strippers of America?

When was it bought by a christian company?

Would this be the same christian company that owns Hot Topic?
cjp

Whatever the subliminal religious message, it’s a marketing blunder because women ’round these parts aren’t having a lot of babies these days. This site has a terribly prepared graph to help demonstrate my point. Ah, I love charts and graphs.

http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/08/fertility_rates_climb_back_up_in_the_most_developed_countrie.php
Anonymous

as a student who just finished my freshman year at college, i have a mixed feeling about forever21 having a maternity line. most girls starts shopping there after getting into middle school, which is about 12 years old. and forever 21′s largest target customers are high school students. on one hand, having a child is a beautiful thing and mothers should embrace it. but on the other hand, it’s almost supporting teen pregnancies by saying “its okay if you get pregnant because we’ll still have clothes for you”

i just don’t know…
zk

Hhmmm. Site requires Cookies.

Cookies bad. No like cookies
Felton

Maybe you have to prove you’re married before they’ll sell you maternity clothes.
Michaelchr

Seems like the right message to me:

“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:28
nixiebunny

If it was called “Sweet 16 maternity” then you’d have something to complain about.
SeattlePete

@Michaelchr: You mean the “correct message for their brand philosophy”, which is clearly not the right message.
tylerkaraszewski

You are completely out of touch with reality in you think young American Christians aren’t pregnant *more* often than most other demographics in this country, and many of them *are* married by 18 or 20.
Anonymous

At least it’s not called Forever16.
THAT would be sending the wrong message.
Anonymous

More superficially, does anybody think that they could have shaped the ‘e’ on ‘love’ to make it look like a heart with the ’2′ from ’21′?

Bad typography? Or maybe an image of a heart is idolatry?
We’ll never know…
Quiche de Resistance

This is a logical next step, as some of their other fashions might have contributed to the condition.
- kfunque
  
  Clothes don’t make people. People make people.
  - Felton
    
    So the clothes don’t actually make the man? Drat! There goes Plan A for becoming a better man.
Anonymous

The bible verses thing never made sense to me, since much of their clothing seems designed for 12 year olds to look skanky. In light of that, I think the maternity line is incredibly appropriate.
Anon, he must

Forever 21, barefoot, and pregnant.
TimDrew

As far as religious sentiment goes, Seems kinda mild… (In ‘n Out does the same thing, but to the nth degree). Anyhow, for any instance of this sort of thing, one can point to other marketing gimmicks from the opposite side. One example that comes to mind -not an endorsement, but the pizza’s aren’t half bad- Hell pizza; Even love the little flatpak coffin that comes with the pizza box…
- grimc
  
  I don’t mind the In-N-Out stuff, or what Alaska Airlines does (same sort of thing on their placemats). But scripture on a shopping bag is a lot different. It makes the customer proselytize for the company.
  - Quiche de Resistance
    
    Apparently Forever 21 doesn’t mind the in-and-out stuff either.
    - nanoquimico
      
      Quiche the resistance wins
      with the greatest comment.
    - grimc
      
      Zing!
Gorgonzilla

I’m not one for much pop culture, but I’m not seeing what exactly you are having an issue with. Pregnancy is not a sin.
LightningRose

What I’d like to know is why the Babble thumpers never quote Deuteronomy 23:12-14

12 Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad:

13 And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee:

14 For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.
- CCSurfer
  
  Don’t sh*t in camp? Sure seems like a good policy to me.
Church

What, are Christians against maternity these days?
Kayjayoh

I don’t get it either. Forever21, if you take the name literally, isn’t geared exclusively for teens. By age 21 you have been a legal adult for several years. Legally old enough to drink. Sure, the store gets a younger than 18 demographic, but it also gets an older demographic.

Is your message that stores who sell clothing to women of varying ages shouldn’t sell maternity wear? If so, Target better knock that off, too. Is your message that women who need maternity clothing shouldn’t be dressing like Forever21? That’s also a wierd judgement. I really don’t get your point.

I also fail to see what is so note-worthy about John 3:16 on their bags. As far as Bible verses goes, it is a pretty nice one. If that is the extent of their “proselytizing” then your problem is what?
ryanrafferty

Glamourizing pregnancy is kinda gross:

“Meet the new addition to our family… this beautiful new peach one piece…. oh…. yeah and there’s thing growing inside me”.

PROFIT!
- Brainspore
  
  Sounds to me like pregnancy itself is what you find kinda gross.
  - ryanrafferty
    
    Well then you must be hearing things!
Anonymous

To misquote Nightmare Before Christmas: making Christians, making Christians.
Anonymous

Sexy…

Okay, I’ll leave now.
Anonymous

I love that the OP didn’t object to anything, and yet 90% of the comments are arguments against an argument that didn’t happen :D

Fantastic social experiment.
Anonymous

I think the bags they use for the maternity line should quote Genesis 3:16. Only fair!
kmoser

Maybe the image of a young, lone girl on the poster makes you think subliminally that she got knocked up out of wedlock? I am guessing you wouldn’t take issue if they’d showed a dowdy, older woman (also pregnant), standing next to what was assumed to be her husband. Or maybe it’s the whole “no sex talk, please, we’re Christian” thing that doesn’t jibe with the obvious message that it takes sex to get pregnant.
Felton

The closest thing to “outrage” I’m seeing is in people complaining about the post.
Anonymous

So obviously it’s bigger than this, but Forever 21 has always been associated in my mind with clubbing and partying — the name itself reinforces this: 21 is old enough to drink, young enough to do it irresponsibly.

“Mom” is not an image they really project. So, yeah, I understand the cognitive dissonance.

Of course it’s not really a big deal. I don’t know that the blurb was trying to make a big deal though? Just pointing out that it feels a little weird.