Forever 21 Can Not Pay Your Bills

Don and Jin Sook Chang, the billionaire owners of Forever 21, seemed to have it all in recent years a happy marriage and one of the hottest retail chains in the country.

Now both may be on the rocks.

The fast-fashion retailer, which for years was busy opening ever-larger stores around the globe, is late paying its bills, industry sources tell The Post.

The tardy payments are spooking vendors and lenders who were already edgy, having witnessed Forever 21 take the unusual step of closing two massive California stores.

Famously private about their closely held chain, the Changs have rebuffed efforts by vendors and lenders to discuss their financial affairs.

As a result, some lenders are withholding credit on Forever 21 orders.

“We are unable to get timely financial disclosures from the company,” said Gary Wassner, chief executive of Hilldun, a New York lender in the retail industry that recently pulled its credit lines for Forever 21.

Without Hilldun providing a financial backstop for suppliers, it becomes harder for the Changs to get clothes made. “We are approving on an order-by-order basis,” Wassner said.

Lenders are jittery because Forever 21 is paying its vendors about 30 days late.

Pearl-Vina Co., one of the Los Angeles-based retailer’s major factories in China, is asking other customers to pay their bills early because Forever 21 has been slow to pay, according to vendors.

The fast-fashion retailer did not respond to requests for comment.

Forever 21’s financial woes are also fueling rumors that the pair who built a single LA store into a global chain of 700 by catering to trendy, cost-conscious young women are on shaky ground as well, sources said.

The Changs Korean immigrants who spun a rags-to-riches tale of washing dishes, cleaning offices and pumping gas before achieving the American dream  are worth a combined $4.4 billion, according to Forbes.

Their two Ivy League-educated daughters, Linda and Esther, are taking a more active role in the company, sources said.

“After having a great five- to 10-year run, they probably don’t have the cash flow they had before when they were the ones taking market share,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Tunick, adding that “our contacts in the channel have estimated that they’ve had negative same-store sales for the past several years.”

Shoppers have grown tired of Forever 21’s inexpensive togs  priced from $4 to $20 as traffic in its stores has declined sharply, say industry experts.

“Like many teen retailers, they were drinking too much of their own Kool-Aid and overexpanded the store fleet both in terms of units and square feet with new stores averaging over 35,000 square feet and some stores over 100,000 square feet,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners.

Recently, the retailer launched an off-price concept, F21 Red, of which there are about 30 stores.

“It’s crazy to think that people would want stuff cheaper than what Forever 21 sells,” said A-Line Partners retail consultant Gabriella Santaniello.