Aditya Birla asserts Forever 21 bankruptcy filing will not affect India business

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Oct 3, 2019

Forever 21 license holder for India Aditya Birla has insisted that the US fast fashion giant’s recent bankruptcy filing will not affect the brand’s India stores.

“Forever 21’s India business is run as a franchise operation by Aditya Birla Fashion,” a spokesperson for Aditya Birla said, as reported by TNN. “The business operations of the brand in India will not be impacted in any way by its restructuring underway in the US.” Aditya Birla Fashion Retail holds offline and online retail rights to Forever 21 in India where it runs 23 stores for the brand. 

Although Aditya Birla does not plan to close the Forever 21 stores it runs, the business did announce that it planned to scale down the brand’s operations in India in 2018. Some of the larger Forever 21 stores were resized and others have been closed. 

However, the brand has not stopped expanding in India. At the start of the year, Forever 21 launched a revamped India website and entered the Northeast market for the first time in June with a store opening in Guwahati.

Forever 21 is currently present in 57 countries and has announced that, due to its bankruptcy, it will close most of its stores in Asia and Europe. Forever 21 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure its business on September 29.