That’s Wack: FOREVER 21 X USPS
By Julia Hedges, SM ’20, Hamzah Jhaveri, TC ’22, and Laurie Roark, ES ’21
Forever 21 has released a collaboration with the United States Postal Service (USPS). We decided to take a look at this uncanny mashup and dig deeper into the trend of fashion houses collabing with unexpected institutions. What does it mean and why is it happening to us?
JH: So, excitingly, I found a Fox News article reporting on this important issue. Here’s what it said: “Having trouble fitting yourself in the ultra-stylish flat-rate envelopes provided by your local USPS post office? Fear not, because Forever 21 is offering the next best thing.”
HJ: Yeah, that’s a totally wack way of starting an article. But what’s even more wack is this collab. I’m looking at the products right now. Some of the clothes are actually pretty cool.
LR: Yeah, I’m looking now, too. There are tube tops that say “PRIORITY” and “EXPRESS” and a $55 jacket with a full shipping label on the arm, scannable and everything. A lot of the people who reviewed it say they work for the post office and want to wear the collab as their uniform. Fox reported that the clothes are not intended to be uniforms, but to produce royalties for the dying public organization. Late capitalism is real. USPS employees should wear them to work anyway, probably.
HJ: Why is Fox News our source, guys?
JH: Anyway, amazing colors, great energy, good font. Like, honestly wearable. I would buy.
HJ: Julia, nuance.
JH: Except, there’s some nuts futuristic drip, and I’m seriously wondering what narrative USPS is trying to push here.
HJ: Those crazy cyborg, single band sunglasses, chain necklace set, and reflective platform sneaks. (Can I say that? Like sneakers?)
LR: Yeah, they seem to have accurately adopted a streetwear fashion aesthetic. Fast fashion plus futurism plus working class?
JH: Well, with working class brands like Carhartt or Dickies or Champion becoming expensive and high fashion to stay relevant, this is the new frontier. USPS, a government agency, becoming relevant through literally selling out to fast affordable fashion.
HJ: That’s a wack narrative. But like, what do you guys think of the other collaborations Forever 21 has recently put out. Honda? Wilson? Taco Bell? Also, everybody’s been collabing with and consuming NASA for years. That’s some retro-nerd ass shit.
LR: The NASA Vans shoes are pretty cute, though! You could walk on the moon in those.
JH: Just like how you could totally ride a Honda motorcycle in their nostalgia-driven Forever 21 bike shorts and racing jackets.
HJ: Okay, I’m going to say something deep now. These fast fashion houses are really reminiscing on some interesting moments in history, and making them consumable to young audiences. Shiny packaging? Simple colors? Helvetica everything? I think they’re actually doing a pretty good job of pushing these obsolete institutions.
JH: Mmmmm, yes, the nostalgia of things being shipped by mail. In an era of internet communication I honestly think people aren’t engaged with the mail like they used to be. USPS actually has to pivot or raise brand awareness as they begin to collapse as an institution. Like, can this collaboration inspire people to start sending things by mail again? I’m going to say probably not.
LR: Redact the “Mmmmm, yes.”
JH: Redacted.
LR: At least in 2013, Forever 21 was not shipping with USPS. The shipping information on their website mentions no company in particular, which means that they’re probably still using private companies like UPS and FedEx, but we can’t be sure. You’d think the collab might make them proud to ship USPS. You’d think they’d say something about it. So it seems like the collab is sort of surface level—while USPS gets royalties from Forever 21’s sales, the fashion brand isn’t saving American mail.
HJ: Really, Forever 21 is pushing government logos onto its consumers, and buyers — some of whom are literal USPS employees but others not — are actually wearing government uniforms. We’re buying into and wearing nationalism.
JH: The relationship between the uniform and the collaboration is super interesting. The Forever 21 clothing is literally the clothing version of the packaging, not the uniform.
LR: The packaging and the fast fashion clothes are equally disposable, then. You wash the crop top a couple times before it falls apart or it falls out of style. The Forever 21 x Taco Bell collection is only from a few years ago, but it’s already laughably outdated. I can picture my friends wearing the Priority Mail Biker Shorts, but not the Taco Bell white t-shirt that says “TOO MUCH SAUCE.”
HJ: Do you guys think that these companies are self-aware of the fleeting nature of trends? Like do you think they realize they can put out wack shit and get away with it because in two weeks there will be a new collection or collaboration out?
LR: Yeah, fast fashion companies like Forever 21 are defined by this ridiculously fast turnaround time, not even speaking to the terrible environmental and human impact of global fashion production.
JH: But what does this mean for USPS? This collab will be in the cultural zeitgeist—
HJ: Weltanschauung. That’s another German word!
JH: As I was saying, no one will care about this collaboration two weeks from now. Who wins from a collaboration really? I mean, capitalism.
HJ: Yeah, obviously.
JH: The privatization and commodification of American institutions is well underway.
LR: Is an H&M x EPA collab next? It’s absurd.
HJ: So we’re supposed to be consuming the bureaucracy for, what? $14.90? Wack.
