Passage 25
学霸导读 曾大受美国青少年欢迎的快时尚零售品牌Forever 21 破产了，这意味着什么呢？
The Los Angeles-based privately held （ 私 营 的 ） chain， Forever 21， f iled for bankruptcy （ 申请破产 ） on September 29， as a result of rapidly changing shopping tastes among teens who are increasingly t 1 away from malls and heading to trendy online sites.
The bankruptcy marks a dramatic fall for the retailer.
Forever 21’s popularity grew during the Great Recession （ 大衰退 ）， when shoppers preferred fashion bargains （ 便宜货 ）. But it went on an aggressive expansion （ 扩张 ） just as shoppers were moving more online. Now， it’s closing as many as 350 stores globally， including as many as 178 stores in the U.S. The company says it will still o 2 its e-commerce business， which accounts for （ 占据 ） 16 percent of total sales.
Still， fast fashion （ 快速时装 ） isn’t d 3 ； it’s just being reinvented. Swedish chain H&M， which has struggled to keep up with competitors， is showing signs of a comeback （ 卷土重来 ） and is reinventing itself by offering more eco-friendly （ 对生态友好的 ） fashions.
Primark opened its f irst store in the U.S. in 2015. Now it has nine stores in the U.S. and is faring well （ 走运，过得好 ）. It， too， is f 4 more on the environment and announced to further support its sustainable cotton program.
Here are three big hurdles （ 难关 ） for fast-fashion companies like Forever 21： new online fastfashion rivals （ 对手 ）， eco-friendly clothing and the rise of micro trends （ 微潮流 ）.
Over the last 10 years or so， many online-only fashion retailers have come up. They are fun， and can a 5 to have lots of sales because they do not have the same operational costs （ 经营成本 ） as physical stores （ 实体店 ）.
Young consumers are also checking out online retailors like Allbirds and Everlane. They are not fast-fashion sites， but offer fashion basics （ 基本款 ） that are easy on the environment.
Fast-fashion retailers used to embrace one big global trend and push it to their stores. Now， they face competition from micro trends as young shoppers f 6 inf luencers （ 有影响力的人 ） on social media. So retailers now need to offer smaller deliveries （ 货品 ） of more diverse （ 多样化的 ） clothing that appeal to different t 7 .
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高频词汇
sustainable /sə'steɪnəbl/ adj. 可持续的 appeal /ə'piː l/ v. 有吸引力；打动