In high school I had a friend who worshiped the ultra trendy and ultra cheap clothing store Forever 21. She called it her favorite store, I called it Polyester Emporium. I hated Forever 21 with a passion and didn’t think the cheap material they used helped her overwhelming B.O  in the least bit.

Years went by, we graduated high school and happily went out separate ways, until I bumped into her one day on my way to a college class. I wasn’t close enough to detect any B.O or deduce that her outfit was in fact, from Forever 21, but I could probably safely bet on both counts.

In the last few years, Forever 21 has done everything in their power to revamp their style, a move that hasn’t always exactly been free of controversy. They amped up their collections, brought versatility to their fabric and textile palette and focused on super trends of the moment, but racked up lawsuits from Diane von Fürstenberg, Gwen Stefani and Anna Sui in the process, and that’s not all. In 2001, factory workers who had produced clothing for the company boycotted the store until working and payroll conditions improved. The company subcontracted production to manufacturers and sewing contractors which in turn employed workers in sweatshop conditions. The lawsuit was dropped when Forever 21 paid the workers’ back wages.

The company earned a projected 400 million in 2001, according to CorpWatch, and that number grew to $1.3 billion in 2007, says the Los Angeles Times.  In 2004, Forever 21 agreed to stop selling clothing made with animal fur under pressure from PETA.

Despite their copycat tendencies, this writer fully admits that she’s shopped at the store she once detested. If you spotted cardigans for $14 and all the jewelery you can imagine before your eyes, you wouldn’t hesitate either. After coming home however, I started to notice everything from earrings to tops to accessories kept falling apart. Shoddy execution is the byproduct of cheap labor and unless you research where your clothes are coming from, it’s very easy to buy clothes with a checkered history. I mean, forget the knockoff factor, the fact that your clothes might come from grossly underpaid employees who work in horrible conditions is enough to seriously think about where you’re shopping.

The argument for or against Forever 21 is a tough one. On the one hand, they provide the masses with coveted fashions at  affordable prices, but on the other hand, they do it at the cost of counterfeit material and possible illegal work practices.

Current laws do not give fashion designers any protection against design copycats, however there recently have been more cases brought against companies Forever 21 that might change that. This past Tuesday, a federal case was brought against them from clothing label Trovata who allege that Forever 21 has knowingly copied a series of shirt designs that you can see below.

Forever 21 on the top, Trovata on the bottom

To date, Forever 21 has been sued 50 times for copyright violations, according to the Toronto Star.

Of course, in this debacle, expensive designer brands don’t receive a get out of jail free card  either. Take for example one of the items in Diane Von Fürstenberg’s lawsuit against Forever 21- a $325 “Cerisier” smock, which was renamed “Sabrina” and sold for $32. The dresses were identical, down to not only the pattern, color and measurements, but the fact that both were made of 100 percent silk in China. So why must the DVF dress cost over $300, Diane? Some of it might have to do with labor costs, but most of it is about a name, a name that will sell clothes at  $325 and who knows how much more. Because when you buy a Diane Von Fürstenberg dress, you’re not just buying a dress, you’re buying a lifestyle, you’re buying something not only for yourself, but for how you’re perceived by others, as in what you can afford and the affluent lifestyle you live.

So really, the dress isn’t worth $325 and it’s not worth $32. A fair price for me would be $100.

Interestingly enough Diane Von Fürstenberg’s DVF label has also done its fair share of copying, reports the Toronto Star.

The issue of design piracy came home to Canada this week as local designers Jennifer Halchuk and Richard Lyle, of the label Mercy, successfully negotiated a compensation package from a large American design house that had admittedly stolen wholesale the design of a floral jacket from Mercy’s spring 2008 collection.

The negotiations were swift and relatively painless. Ironically, Mercy’s vintage-looking, tea-dyed jacket of complicated construction was pilfered by a design staffer for the New York-based mega-brand of Diane von Furstenberg

Now more than ever, getting the most bang for your buck is a priority and it’s pretty safe to say that Forever 21 is just watching the profit roll in. You can’t expect people in this economy to pay astronomical prices for a dress, so the problem needs to be addressed by both sides by coming to a happy medium.

Unfortunately, finding brands that don’t use sweatshops to manufacture their clothes and are originals, as well as being affordable, is really impossible-at least in the U.S. anyway. Wal-Mart, Gap (Old Navy, Banana Republic), Target, Abercrombie and Fitch, Eddie Bauer, J.Crew and Nike are some of the known brands that do employ sweatshops. The fact that J.Crew happens to be in that list is more than disappointing to me, as it’s one of my favorite places to shop from. Boo on you, J.Crew, really.

The business of clothing and fashion are tainted in many ways, and this discussion can go on forever. There are so many issues at hand, including the ongoing battle against unfair wages and working conditions, as well as trying to find labels that are labor and environmentally friendly, issues that I hope to discuss later, but for now, it might be a good idea to keep these looming human rights issues in mind the next time you’re overcome with joy at the prospect of buying five shirts and three pairs of pants all collectively under $100.