Plus size diet bars, "fake news" shorts: Forever 21 & # 39; s stumble

This week, Forever 21 found itself woven into controversy. Again.

Customers were upset after someone reported having received diet bars with plus-size garment orders on Friday. Then the company also got flack to sell bike shorts with the words "fake news" printed all over.

The fast-paced fashion retailer is subject to criticism due to the lack of adequate product review and the risk it is willing to take, according to industry experts. Over the past year, Forever 21 has also come under fire to have sold a "Black Panther" sweater using a white model, and it settled a lawsuit claiming the company beaten by the footwear company Puma's design. In 201[ads1]7, angry consumers accused the company of stealing the design of a T-shirt created by the creative agency Word to raise funds for Planned Parenthood.

"For many companies, if there are new initiatives, you have to run it by people and they need to be checked," said Neil Saunders, CEO of GlobalData's retail division. "Forever 21 has sometimes circumvented these things or discussions about these things, so they adopt certain policies or products, while other companies would have filtered them out long before they reached customers."

That's also because the volume of goods the company handles. "With the volume of products they produce, it is difficult for each product to undergo a kind of sanitary control, so to speak, so some things will crawl through and reach the customer or store floor," he said.

Liz Dunn, CEO of the detail data platform Pro4ma, also said that the issue concerns fast-moving more than traditional retailers. "Anyone who runs the fast fashion model is going to make decisions in less time," she said. "Sometimes it is wrong."

After Forever 21 sold the T-shirt in favor of Planned Parenthood, it issued a statement saying that the shirt was purchased from a third-party source and that since the product did not have trademark or intellectual property protection, there were no red flags raised at the time of purchase.

According to Dunn, designs and other controversial styles were probably purchased from vendors who demand designs to sell to retailers such as Forever 21 and H&M. "There is only one way to shorten the product development cycle … and go back to this idea that there is not so much wetting to what the products get on the floor."

Saunders also noted that the way the company is trying to appeal to customers may be subject to more controversy. "Forever 21 is a fun company, and I think it takes risk, sometimes with fashion, other times with the things it does."

Forever 21 said in a statement that the diet rods were part of a third-party product delivery test. "The current freebie items were included in all online orders, in all sizes and categories, for a limited time and have since been removed," said the company, CNN said.

The dealer was not immediately available to comment further. when contacted by CNBC.

Despite the storm in social media, Saunders doesn't think it will affect Forever 21's sales.

"Very few people ever follow not to use a reseller or deter a dealer just because a product they do not like is produced," he said. "People tend to be much more pragmatic when it comes to grabbing. It doesn't do much harm to this business and it's not just for Forever 21. There are many other dealers in hot water." 19659002] Other dealers have also seen their share of stumbling. Just a few days ago, Macy drew a record it sold as outlined portion sizes for "mom jeans" and "thin jeans." Last year, H&M apologized after selling a "monkey" sweater modeled by a black child, while other animal styles were modeled by white children.

However, Dunn said that Forever 21 may be in a more vulnerable position, since the company has already struggled. In June, the company was reported to investigate restructuring options and financing if bankruptcy were to be filed.

And this can be especially true because of the diet scandal.

"We are at this moment where body positivity and inclusion are really very important to the core consumers of Forever 21," Dunn said. "There is a natural dialogue that this should fall on body shame … and that's what their customer really is tuned into."