I recently purchased some of their maternity wear and although I felt a little out of place in the store (being a 37-yr old on a 2nd pregnancy), I felt like the clothes themselves would not be very appealing to a typical, forever 21 teen customer. In fact, most of the clothing was fairly modest and roomy. As for the website, I agree that most of the models are quite young looking, but the maternity model looked to be “of age”. As for the debut in AZ, TX and CA, one could argue that the latter 2 at least are some of the most populated states and as such, would have the most need for such a line. Now, I’m not generally in vehement support of the clothing forever 21 sells to teens, but I think in introducing the maternity line, they don’t have completely malevolent goals. Plus, I’m all for $13.80 jeans.

I am 23 and i shop there. I have a 3 yr old and a 5 month old and I am very happy they sell maternity. Most people I know that shop there are over 20 and just like stephanie said the maternity models look older. Why should it matter anyways, it seems like they are just trying to expand their horizons. Target sells teen clothes and affordable maternity clothes, so does nordstrom and every other department store. Plus the maternity wear at f21 are more modest in style, and older women who probably shouldn’t shop at “teen stores” still do so I don’t think it’s promoting teen pregnancy. The love21 branch seems like its aiming towards older working women anyways.

The profit argument is irrelevant, because they’re going to buy clothes from somewhere and these clothes are super cheap. I could see criticizing Forever21 if something about their marketing was egregiously off-base. But that doesn’t seem to be it. The controversy seems more about wanting teen pregnancy to be as miserable as possible — all the normal downsides, plus humiliating and expensive clothes, as if that’s the dam that’s keeping the flood at bay.

I shop at Forever21 and I am 25 years old. I have friends as old as 33 who still shop there for inexpensive trend items and accessories to glam up the wardrobe staples from season to season. I think it makes sense, a lot of (older!) women shop at Forever21, and nobody wants to spend a fortune on something she’s only going to be wearing for a few months.

I am a 24 year old female who regularly shops at Forever 21 for almost all my clothes. If I were to get pregnant or be pregnant right now…Forever 21 would be my saving grace. My 31 year old married friend just had her first baby and she also shops at Forever for all of her clothes. I know that she paid ridiculous amounts of money for maternity clothes because the Forever maternity line wasn’t available yet. More women I know over 21 shop at Forever then any of my friends younger siblings who are between the age of 13-19. I see how people could be offended by this line but they need to realize in this economy, more women in their 20′s and 30′s are shopping at Forever than they are at Macys. They probably noticed an increase in shopping in that age group and deveolped the line with their “older” clients in mind.

Old Navy also sells clothes for toddlers and PREGNANCY clothes at the same time. GASP.

Forever 21 uses their marketing power to push trendy clothes on younger girls. They dictate what is in and whats not. This isnt a bad thing, but having affordable clothing is important for most girls.

Comments The truth is that people of all ages shop there. Im 39 and I shop there. I probably won’t wear things the same way that their younger shoppers would, but finding a 20 buck pair of perfectly fitting skinny jeans is no joke! I doubt that this will increase the number of teen pregnancies. I agree with you that a number of factors are now encouraging teenage girls to seek out love and acceptance by having a child they are not prepared for. But I honestly don’t think that maternity wear is one of them. However, I applaud your thoughtfulness on the issue.

I absolutely agree there is too much degradation of sexual exposure to teens, but nearly 30, forced to not be able to work, it is incredibly hard to find fashionable preggo clothes I can afford. Nearly every woman I know gets a majority of their clothes there, & I’m afraid all models for all companies either are or could pass for teens. Why does no one have a problem encouraging obesity by providing clothes for a primarily self-induced disease? The fact is that its happening, so in the same vein you are allowing plus-sized clothing to encourage obesity by offering those clothes to individuals.