John 3:16 In The Marketplace

Whoa I'm impressed with this article that recently came up in Business Week. How many of you know Forever 21 ? (I can see many hands up and nods. Girls, don't tell me you've never been there) How many knows that the plastic bag has "John 3:16" at the bottom ? (Aha, I notice some of you raise your hands too. In case you have shopped there a lot but never notice it, take a look at one of those yellow plastic bags and you will see) Now, how many knows that the owner are Korean-American and devoted newborn Christian?

This business article about Fashion 21 empire amazes me because I just never thought that behind those stylish and affordable, there is a real-testimonial about God's goodness. Now the company worth $3 billion with 477-store worldwide and 35,000-employees. The founders Mr and Mrs Chang are the perfect example of 'from rags to riches'. Not so many businessman or business owners are willing to declare their faith in public nowadays, especially when it may probably risk their business. For instance, I know some customers don't want to go back to the store when they realized that F21 is a Christian-owner store, but as you can see, yet God still multiplies their customers and the business runs very well until now. Two thumbs up for their boldness!

The 91,257 sq.ft. megastore in Times Square, NYC opened in 2010.

Paris branch

In Seoul, Mr. Chang had started the first coffee and natural juice delivery service. Mrs. Chang had been a hairdresser. They wanted to run their own business in Los Angeles, and while subsisting on wages from menial labor (he pumped gas and worked as a janitor), they managed to open a 900-square-foot clothing store. It was on a low-rent street close to the garment district, and they called it Fashion 21. The Changs filled the store with cheaply made, skimpy clothes for teens, all produced by Korean-American manufacturers and all selected by Mrs. Chang. She proved to have a sharp eye for easy-to-copy trends and an even sharper instinct for negotiation.

The Changs, who are born-again Christians, think they had some other help, too. Mrs. Chang tells people that when they were starting out, she went to the top of a mountain in Los Angeles to pray. God told her she should open a store and that she would be successful. "Every decision that they made has been with thoughtful prayer," says Linda Chang- the eldest daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Chang attend a daily 5:30 a.m. prayer meeting at the Ttokamsa Mission Church when they're in town; he also leads Bible study, and she's a deacon. "I think they get a lot of business ideas and insight during early morning prayer time," Pastor Ken Choe says in an e-mail. According to him, they've contributed millions of dollars to missions around the world and regularly go on missions themselves, including to Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. They've told their daughters that when they retire, they want to devote themselves fully to the church. "Mr. Chang said he would have been a missionary if this hadn't worked out," says Linda. "This supports that. This is part of their missionary vision." 

The Changs' faith is often on display at Forever 21. In black letters on the bottom of every bright yellow Forever 21 shopping bag is "John 3:16," a reference to one of the best-known verses of the Bible: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." There are Bibles at the company's headquarters. And when Mr. Chang accepted an award from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. in November and gave a rare public speech, he said: "I live by the Bible verse, 'He who is full hates honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.' " Then he added: "That is why I work so hard—because I'm still hungry." 

According to Roth Capital's Pierce, a typical Forever 21 store might turn over 20 percent of its merchandise in a week, which could be twice as much as most apparel retailers. ..... The Changs have been able to accomplish this with no advertising, virtually no marketing, and only infrequent attempts to introduce themselves to their customers. Click below for complete story.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_05/b4213090559511.htm

Hey, don't you feel inspired? I am hooked ! This is kind of business that Jesus want us to do to impact the world.

In this article, I'm aware that the author was talking that F21 had some issues like infringement suits in the past, secretive organization, etc. I personally think that fast-paced retail industry is almost impossible to copyright. I mean, every cheap clothing store tries to copy some designer's style because that's where the trend came from. The designer house should not be worried because 'the fake ones' will result in completely different garment anyway looking at the quality and cutting. So I think that's a fair game. It's just one of the competitive advantages which is part of differentiating your business, which is to help consumer 'feel good without breaking your bank' to wear what's in style for now. Also the author talked a lot about how risky it is to expand the business exponentially with double resources and liability (from real estate point of view) whereas I think that's a judgmental idea. Just because their company always keep silent to the media, doesn't mean they don't have strategic planning, and most importantly they have faith. Nothing is impossible for God. Keep supporting and pray for them.