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HOW I MADE IT — Do Won Chang

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The gig: As founder and chief executive of Forever 21 Inc., Do Won “Don” Chang oversees one of the world’s fastest-growing fashion retailers, with 457 stores in 15 countries. From his office near downtown Los Angeles, he oversees an army of more than 20,000 employees ringing up sales of the season’s trendiest designs from Chiba (Japan) to Chico (Calif.).

Chock full o’clothes: Growing up in South Korea, Chang worked in coffee shops. So when he emigrated to California in 1981 at age 18, he figured hot joe would be his ticket to the American dream. Flashy Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs changed his mind. “I noticed the people who drove the nicest cars were all in the garment business,” Chang said.

Humble to huge: Chang opened his first store in L.A.’s Highland Park neighborhood in 1984, calling it Fashion 21. As sales took off and the clientele grew beyond the Korean American community, he changed the name to Forever 21. Other stores soon followed in the U.S. and overseas, including one in the Seoul neighborhood of Myung-Dong, where Chang grew up.

More growth ahead: The economic downturn forced Chang to make some cuts. The company ended 2009 with seven fewer stores than the year before. Still, revenue is climbing. In the last fiscal year, Forever 21 posted $1.7 billion in sales. It projects revenue of $2.3 billion this year. Much of that is from aggressive expansion — Chang is eyeing Israel and Hong Kong, for example. Equally important is a broad lineup. In addition to Forever 21, the chain has seven other formats, each serving distinct breeds of mall rats, including XXI Forever, which focuses on higher end couture lines, and Heritage 1981, featuring vintage-styled clothes.

A family affair: Chang opened his first store with his wife, Jin Sook, and has run the privately held company as a family business ever since. Daughter Linda heads marketing. His other daughter, Esther, is in charge of visual elements of the chain, such as graphics and window displays. “It’s important my daughters learn from the hard work my wife and I put into this company,” said Chang, who said a stock offering isn’t likely any time soon. “Who better to look out for your best interests than family?”

Cliché, but still warms the cockles: Chang is proud to have added his chapter to an American classic: the immigrant success story. “Forever 21 gives hope and inspiration to people who come here with almost nothing,” said Chang, who lives in a $16.5-million home in Beverly Hills and never went to college. “And that is a reward that humbles me: the fact that immigrants coming to America, much like I did, can come into a Forever 21 and know that all of this was started by a simple Korean immigrant with a dream.”

Staying power: Making it big in the shmatte business isn’t easy. Chang tells young would-be entrepreneurs that they need perseverance, and they better know their stuff. “You can’t go into business thinking that success will come to you in just one or two years,” said Chang, who insists that a deep understanding of business and legal culture was key to his success. Retail, he said, “is like a marathon, not a 100-meter dash.”

What it’s all for: A religious man, Chang dedicates much of his free time to spiritual pursuits. He and his wife run the Chang 21 Foundation, which donates money to churches and other faith groups. He travels to perform missionary work and cites the Bible as his favorite book. For Chang, stylish tops, skinny jeans and cut-rate accessories are just tools to help him “travel to places in Third World countries that desperately need aid.” Every Forever 21 shopping bag has a citation for a Bible verse printed on the bottom.

Just for fun: Chang occasionally plays racquetball or unwinds in front of the TV, watching his beloved Lakers. How focused is Chang? He hasn’t uploaded a single app to his smart phone.

Speed counts: Success didn’t come without struggle. Chang’s company has been accused of copying high-end designer garments and sued several times over copyright issues (the matters were settled out of court). But Chang says that the biggest challenge is the sheer speed of change. “Everyone wants something different, and they want it immediately,” he said. “You have to be very fast because other retailers are right behind you.”

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10 Things You Didn’t Know about Do Won Chang

You may or may not be familiar with the name Do Won Chang, but we guess you are familiar with the name Forever 21. He is the man behind the store that sells trendy, inexpensive clothing to young girls and young women – and even some women who probably should upgrade to a store with a name a little closer to their own age. Do Won Chang is a billionaire with a pretty nice set up, and he’s not hurting for cash. His net worth as of 2016 is around $5.4 billion. He’s not the wealthiest man in the world, but he probably doesn’t mind the fact that he’s pretty far down the list of billionaires in the world .

He’s an interesting man, and we thought we might get to know a bit more about him. Here are 10 things you didn’t know about Do Won Chang:

He lives in California

Do won Chang grew up in South Korea with his family before he chose to get married and move to California. He’s been there so long, though, that he calls it home and loves the area. He moved there with his wife in 1981.

He began his business in 1984

When he moved to California, Do Won Chang was not already a massive player in the clothing industry. He began his business in 1984 after he had already been in the states for more than three years. He was ready to do something different with his life, and this is the direction in which he chose to go. It worked out quite well for him, too.

The store had a different name

Before it was Forever 21, the name of Do Won Chang’s store was actually Fashion 21. The name did not really work for very long though, and it ended up being changed at some point down the road.  By the time 2010 rolled around, he had more than 450 stores.

He’s a Christian man

Many people are surprised when they find out that Do Won Chang and his wife are Christians. They chose to have every bag that leaves their store emblazoned with the verse John 3:16 on the bottom. This the same verse former University of Florida Quarterback Tim Tebow wrote on his face in black ink before every football game in which he played for the Gators.

He’s not college educated

What most people do not know about Do Won Chang is that he and his wife are not college educated. Neither of them bothered to get their college degrees when they graduated from high school. It’s always a bit of a surprise when people realize that given the value of education in so many other countries versus in the United States. Though he does join a nice, long list of men and women who are successful billionaires who are not college educated.

He made $700,000 in his first year of business

When Do Won Chang and his wife opened their first store, they were shocked with how fast their fashions sold and how much money they made. That’s when they decided that with that kind of income, they’d be able to open a new store every six months. That was their dream, and they were able to surpass it more than they could have ever imagined. It was a nice business beginning for them.

He owns 100% of his business

Many people with a big business such as Forever 21 have many different men and women with controlling interests. Do Won Chang, however, does not. He and his wife own 100% of their business, and that is how they like to keep it. They are a happy couple with a couple of kids and they like to keep things in the family when it comes to their businesses.

Seoul street style inspired them

When they were looking for a business to start, this couple decided that they loved the kind of quick and easy stress style they had back in Seoul. They thought that perhaps the Korean-American teens living in LA might appreciated the style, too, and that’s what they decided to bring to them. They had no idea that their little idea would turn into many billions of dollars over the next three plus decades. The style idea was simple and it was easy, and it turned out to be something exceptionally popular with many young women in the USA, not just Korean-American young women. He might never have predicted this.

Their daughters are educated

Do Won Chang and his wife Jin Sook have two daughters. Their names are Lisa and Esther, and they made sure that both of their daughters were highly educated in some of the best schools in the country. Both have an Ivy League education to their name, and they are both involved in their parent’s business at this point. Do Won Chang did not have a college experience, and though he clearly did not need it, he wanted his daughters to have their own college degrees so that they didn’t face any of the same hardships and trials that he faced so many times in his own life.

He is the 380 th wealthiest man in the world

Do Won Chang has led a pretty fortunate life since he entered the world of fashion. He has been on the list of Forbes billionaires for quite some time. He’s moved around a bit, falling and rising year to year. This year, he is the 380 th wealthiest man in the world. If you delve a bit further into the list based on his net worth, he is the 133 rd wealthiest man in the United States. He’s got plenty of money in the bank, and he has a very successful business to continue to run. He’s only 62, so he has plenty of time ahead of him to enjoy working before it’s time to retire.

Photo by Do Won Chang

Garrett by trade is a personal finance freelance writer and journalist. With over 10 years experience he's covered businesses, CEOs, and investments. However he does like to take on other topics involving some of his personal interests like automobiles, future technologies, and anything else that could change the world.

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19 of the most inspiring rags-to-riches stories in business

Some of the richest people in the world were born into their wealth. 

But many of them started with nothing, and through hard work, talent, grit, and a bit of luck, managed to rise to the very top.

These 20 stories remind us that it's possible to overcome just about anything, from parents passing away, to extreme poverty, and more. 

Max Nisen and Eric Goldschein wrote an earlier version of this story. 

George Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary to become one of the world's most successful investors.

George Soros  survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary  after his father paid a government employee, whose Jewish wife he had helped hide in the countryside, to let him pose as his godson. In 1947, he escaped the country, which had come under communist rule after the war, to stay with relatives in London. Soros put himself through the London School of Economics by working as a waiter and railway porter. 

After graduating, Soros  sold goods at a souvenir shop , writing countless letters to managing directors at merchant banks in London until he finally got a job. That was the beginning of a long and enormously successful career in finance, including his  famous bet against the British pound  in 1992, which earned him more than a billion dollars in profit in one swoop. 

Larry Ellison grew up in a poor Chicago neighborhood before co-founding Oracle.

Ellison was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. After he contracted pneumonia as a baby, his mother was unable to care for him, and instead sent him to live with her aunt and uncle on the South Side of Chicago. He has never met his birth father, and didn't even know he was adopted until much later in life.

In 1977, he co-founded a database management company called Software Development Laboratories. They changed the name to Relational Software in 1979, and in 1982, it became Oracle. Today, Oracle has annual revenues of around $38 billion, and Ellison has an estimated net worth of $46.2 billion. He's amassed all of the toys you'd expect from a billionaire — planes, yachts, multiple mansions, and even an entire Hawaiian island. He stepped down from his CEO role in 2014.

John Paul DeJoria lived in his car before John Paul Mitchell Systems took off.

As a first-generation American, DeJoria had it rough from the beginning . His Greek and Italian parents divorced when he was two, and he sold Christmas cards and newspapers to help support his family before he turned 10. He was eventually sent to live in a foster home in Los Angeles.

DeJoria spent some time with an L.A. gang before joining the military. After trying his hand as an employee for Redken Laboratories , he took a $700 dollar loan and created John Paul Mitchell Systems. He hawked the company's shampoo door-to-door, living out of his car while doing so. But the quality of the product could not be denied, and now JPM Systems has annual revenues of nearly $1 billion. He also created Patron Tequila and has a hand in a variety of industries, from diamonds to mobile phones.

Do Won Chang worked three jobs to make ends meet before starting Forever 21.

Do Won Chang and his wife, Jin Sook, moved to America from Korea in 1981. When they first arrived, Do Won  was forced to work three jobs  at the same time to support them, as a janitor, a gas station attendant, and in a coffee shop. Eventually, they were able to open their first clothing store in 1984.

That one store grew into Forever 21, which pioneered fast fashion and is now a multi-national, 480 store empire that  generates around $3 billion in sales  a year. It's a family business, with the couple's daughters Linda and Esther helping to run the company.

"Forever 21 gives hope to people who come here with almost nothing," Don  told the LA Times .  "And that is a reward that humbles me: The fact that immigrants coming to America, much like I did, can come into a Forever 21 and know that all of this was started by a simple Korean immigrant with a dream."

Zdenek Bakala fled communist Czechoslovakia with only $50 and is now a coal magnate.

In 1980, when he was 19 years old , Bakala fled communist Czechoslovakia with a $50 dollar bill that had been wrapped in plastic and hidden in a sandwich. He made it to Lake Tahoe, where he washed dishes at a Harrah's casino.

He eventually got an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Dartmouth. He went into banking, and eventually back to his home country, opening Credit Suisse First Boston's first office in Prague after the Wall fell. In 1994 he founded the first investment bank in the Czech Republic. He  presides over a coal company as well as an iron ore company, though both have seen their share prices fall dramatically within the last year. 

Guy Laliberté ate fire on the streets before introducing Cirque du Soleil to the world.

The Canadian-born Laliberté began his circus career busking on the streets: playing accordion, walking on stilts, and eating fire. He tempted fate by bringing a successful troupe from Quebec to the Los Angeles Arts Festival in 1987, with no return fare . The bet paid off, and the circus group was eventually brought to Las Vegas, where they became the world-famous Cirque du Soleil we know today.

Today, Laliberté is the CEO of Cirque, a professional poker player and space tourist, with an estimated net worth of $1.98 billion.

Ursula Burns grew up in a housing project on Manhattan's Lower East Side and now runs Xerox.

Before the Lower East Side was cool, it was a hub for gangs. Burns was raised by her single mother in a housing project there. Her mother ran a daycare center out of her home and ironed shirts so that she could afford to send Ursula to Catholic school. She went to NYU, and from there became an intern at Xerox.

She's now Xerox's CEO and chairwoman . Burns is the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.

Howard Schultz grew up in the Brooklyn projects before becoming CEO of Starbucks.

Schultz grew up in the Bayview projects of Canarsie, Brooklyn. He always wanted to climb "over the fence" and go beyond the lifestyle provided by his truck-driving father. He excelled at sports and eventually earned a football scholarship to the University of Northern Michigan.

After graduating with a degree in communications, Schultz went to work for Xerox before discovering a small coffee shop called Starbucks. Enamored with the coffee, he left Xerox to become the company's chief executive in 1987. After beginning with 60 shops, Starbucks now has more than 21,000 stores in 65 countries, and Schultz has a net worth of $3.1 billion.

Li Ka-shing quit school at 15 to work in a plastics factory and is now the richest man in Hong Kong.

The family of Li Ka-shing fled mainland China for Hong Kong in 1940, and Li's father died of tuberculosis when he was just 15. Quitting school to work to support his family, Li made plastics and later plastic flowers for US export .

By 1950 Li was able to start his own company, Cheung Kong Industries. While at first manufacturing plastics, the company later moved into real estate. Similarly, Li expanded his ownership of different companies, and today has his hand in  banking, cellular phones, satellite television, cement production, retail outlets, hotels, domestic transportation, airports, electric power, steel production, ports, and shipping, among other industries. He employs more than 270,000 people in 52 countries, according to Forbes. 

Francois Pinault is a high school dropout who operates luxury goods group Kering with his family.

Pinault quit high school in 1947 after being teased for his poor background. He joined his family's timber trading business and in the 1970s began buying up smaller firms. His ruthless business tactics — including slashing jobs and selling his timber company only to buy it back at a fraction of the cost when the market crashed — gave him a reputation as a " predator ." He had similar tactics in the real estate business, and did well buying French junk bonds and taking government money to save businesses from bankruptcy.

His self-made worth helped him start Kering (formerly PPR), a luxury goods group that sells brands like Gucci, Stella McCartney, and Yves St. Laurent. At one point the richest man in France, Pinault and his family are now worth an estimated $13.2 billion .

Leonardo Del Vecchio was an orphaned factory worker whose eyeglasses empire today makes Ray-Bans and Oakleys.

Del Vecchio was one of five children who could not be supported by his widowed mother. After growing up in an orphanage, he went to work in a factory making molds for auto parts and eyeglass frames, where he lost part of his finger.

At 23, he opened his own molding shop. That eyeglass frame shop expanded to the world's largest maker of sunglasses and prescription eyewear. Luxottica manufactures sunglasses from brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley, with 6,000 retail shops like Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters. His net worth is estimated at $23.5 billion. 

Kirk Kerkorian went from boxer and Royal Air Force pilot to Las Vegas mega-resort owner.

Kerkorian, the son of Armenian parents who learned English on the streets , dropped out of 8th grade to become a boxer. His family was a casualty of the Great Depression, and Kerkorian went about finding skills to help bring income home. He became a daredevil pilot for the Royal Air Force during World War II, delivering supplies over the Atlantic on routes that would crash one in four planes . 

From the money he made running supplies, Kerkorian became a high roller on the craps table and eventually a real estate magnate in Las Vegas: he bought The Flamingo and built The International and MGM Grand, stalwarts of the Vegas scene.

Kerkorian died in June 2015. 

Sheldon Adelson is another Las Vegas hotels magnate who tried his hand at a few industries.

Adelson grew up in tenement housing in Massachusetts , where he shared a bedroom with his parents and three siblings.  His father was a Lithuanian taxi driver and his mother had a knitting store. When he was 12 years old, he started selling newspapers and a few years later ran a vending machine scheme on the same corner.

Adelson tried his hand at a few different industries, from packing hotel toiletries to mortgage brokering. His biggest break came from developing a computer trade show. He turned that wealth into a purchase of the Sands Hotel & Casino, and later the mega-resort The Venetian as well as some casinos in Macau. 

His net worth is estimated at $26 billion. 

Ingvar Kamprad was born in a small village in Sweden and created a mail-order business that became IKEA.

Kamprad lived the farm life growing up. But he always had a knack for business, buying matches in bulk from Stockholm to sell to his neighbors. He later expanded to fish, Christmas decorations, and pens.

Not satisfied with the small stuff, Kamprad took money from his father (a reward for good grades) and created a mail-order business that eventually became IKEA (the name comes from his initials plus those of his village and family farm). Furniture became the company's biggest seller, and Kamprad's use of local manufacturers kept his prices low. Though he has an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion, he reportedly prefers flying economy over private. 

Roman Abramovich was an orphan who turned an expensive wedding gift into an oil empire.

After his parents died when he was just four, the Russian Abramovich was  raised by his uncle and grandmother . Abramovich got his first break from an expensive wedding gift from his in-laws. He dropped out of college to pursue his entrepreneurial interests, which at first included selling plastic ducks out of an apartment in Moscow.

He managed a takeover of oil giant Sibneft at a bargain price in 1995. He continued to flip his investments into even larger acquisitions, including Russian Aluminum and steelmaker Evraz Group. It seems that being ruthless has paid off for the billionaire : he now owns the largest private yacht in the world, as well a Boeing 767 and homes in New York, London, and France. He's also the owner of the Chelsea Football Club. 

Richard Desmond went from living above a garage to creating a magazine publishing empire.

Desmond grew up the son of a single mother after his parents divorced. The two of them lived above a garage, and, according to Desmond, he was  "very fat and very lonely." He quit school at 14 to focus on being a drummer, working as a coat-checker to help pay the bills. Though he never became rich from his own musical talents, he later opened his own record shops.

Eventually Desmond published his first magazine, International Musician and Recording World. The Desmond magazine empire would expand to publications like a British version of Penthouse and Ok! , a worldwide favorite. He now owns publications around the globe and is involved in philanthropic work. He still plays with his band, RD Crusaders, whose members include former musicians from The Who and Led Zeppelin.  

J.K. Rowling lived on welfare before creating the Harry Potter franchise.

In the early 1990s, Rowling had just gotten divorced and was living on welfare with a dependent child. She completed most of the first "Harry Potter" book in cafes, as walking around with her daughter, Jessica, was the best way to get her to sleep.

The "Harry Potter" franchise has become a worldwide success , and Rowling has been on and off Forbes' billionaire list . 

Before Sam Walton founded Walmart, he milked cows and sold magazines in Oklahoma.

Walton's family lived on a farm in Oklahoma during the Great Depression. In order to make ends meet, he helped his family out by milking the cow and driving the milk out to customers. He also delivered newspapers and sold magazine subscriptions.

By 26, he was managing a variety store after graduating from the University of Missouri with a B.A. in economics. He used $5,000 from the army and a $20,000 loan from his father-in-law to buy a Ben Franklin variety store in Arkansas. He expanded the chain, and then went on to found Walmart and Sam's Club . He died in 1992, leaving the company to his wife and children. 

Oprah Winfrey turned a life of hardship into inspiration for a multi-billion-dollar empire.

Oprah spent the first six years of her life living with her grandmother wearing dresses made out of potato sacks. After being molested by two members of her family and a family friend, she ran away from home at age 13. At 14, her newborn child died shortly after he was born. She went back to live with her mother, but it wasn't until her mother sent her to live with her father that she turned her life around .

She got a full scholarship to college, won a beauty pageant — where she was discovered by a radio station — and the rest is history. The Oprah name became an empire, and according to Forbes she is worth $3.1 billion. 

• Main content

Do Won Chang of Forever 21: How he turned his chain into the fastest name in fast fashion.

Do won chang, ceo of forever 21, how do won chang has turned forever 21, his cheap, chic chain of massive mall stores, into the fastest name in fast fashion..

Do Won Chang has changed the nature, and speed, of popular fashion.

Chang and his wife, Jin Sook Chang, opened their first clothing store in Los Angeles, Fashion 21, in the early '80s and haven't stopped for breath since. Mr. and Mrs. Chang, as they are known to their employees, have opened roughly 500 stores worldwide, hired thousands of staff members, and become billionaires. And they gave their company a new name: Forever 21.

While Mrs. Chang approves the designs of the company's merchandise, Mr. Chang has turned Forever 21 into the fastest fast-fashion chain in the business, and in the process he's made the company widely envied, frequently hated, and universally copied. In an age where innovation is more than ever about being fastest to market, the Changs are faster than anyone.

The head office works with contractors who design and churn out the company's teen-friendly gear—designer knockoffs, inexpensive staples, and lots of them. The process from sketch to store often takes days, not weeks or months. Few items cost more than $30. Clothing is available only at particular locations and always in limited quantities. Many of June's new arrivals advertised on the company Twitter feed are already gone. This scarceness means that visiting Forever 21 is like stopping at the last water fountain on a road trip into the desert. If you don't buy that sequin anchor racerback top now, it'll be gone forever. (Plus, it's only $17.80. You'd better get two.)

Under Chang's watch, the company has also diversified and tinkered with its business model. It now offers higher-end designer imitations to appeal to fashion-conscious but thin-walleted twenty- and thirtysomethings. (Companies can patent only labels and logos , not designs, by the way. Its plus-size range, Faith 21, has gone gangbusters. The company has received criticism for its suppliers' working conditions and for its items' remarkable similarity to boutique goods . But, for better and worse, that is what keeps Forever 21's clothes so cheap and so chic.

View the Forever 21 Spring Lookbook

Follow Forever 21 on Twitter at @Forever21 .

Check out the rest of our business Top Right: Troy Carter , business manager for Lady Gaga. Jack Dorsey , founder of Twitter and Square. Reed Hastings , CEO of Netflix. Eric Ryan , co-founder of Method.

People, Places, Ideas, and More

The success story of do won chang, founder of forever 21.

On March 20 in the year 1954, one of the famous entrepreneurs who found fortune in clothing business was born in Seoul, South Korea. His name is Do Won Chang, the co-founder of Forever 21 chain of retail stores. According to forbes.com, he has accumulated a fortune of $1.6 billion as of August, 2021, down from $2.7 billion in October, 2017.

Do Won Chang was the son of a Korean couple of modest means. With limited formal education, he and his wife immigrated to the United States in 1981. There, he started working in the kitchen of a coffee shop, earning $3 an hour. Later, he found additional income by working in a gas station in the evening. Still not content, he took on cleaning jobs until a little past midnight. Meanwhile, Jin Sook Chang, his wife, did manicuring job, a skill he learned in Korea.

After three years in America, the couple was able to save $11,000. They bought a 900-square-foot bankrupt clothing store in Los Angeles and started their own apparel business called Fashion 21. Later, it was renamed Forever 21. As before, they worked hard until the evening and the business registered sales of $700,000 during the first year. They used the profit to establish another store. After 6 months, they put up a third branch. Subsequently, they expanded the business aggressively to cover the country from coast to coast. By 2010, they had 457 stores in 15 countries. By 2016, the company made $4.4 billion in sales, had 43,000 employees in 790 stores in 48 countries including his native South Korea.

In an interview, Do Won credited his initial success to his low price strategy. He was able to do this by buying in bulk directly from manufacturers at heavily discounted prices. He also cited his very religious background. In fact, a Bible verse is printed at the bottom of every Forever 21 bag.

References https://www.forbes.com/profile/do-won-jin-sook-chang/ http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/31/business/la-fi-himi-chang-20100731 https://www.forbes.com/sites/gracechung/2016/10/05/exclusive-interview-with-one-of-americas-most-successful-immigrants-forever-21s-do-won-chang/#11f282d642ab

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From rags to riches: The story behind Forever 21 cofounders

In this article

Most of us are familiar with Forever 21, the retail giant which is highly popular among ladies.

What most of us are not familiar with is this: What’s the story behind it?

Forever 21 did not start off as Forever 21, but instead, Fashion 21. Founded by South Korea husband and wife team – Do Won Chang and Jin Sook, Fashion 21 was launched in Los Angeles in 1984.

Back then, both of them were immigrants to the States.

The couple had been in the States for only three years when the company opened their first store in Highland Park, California, a neighborhood located about five minutes north of downtown Los Angeles.  The store produced approximately $700,000 during its first year and still remains in the same location to this day.

Since then, Forever 21 has expanded to an international brand, with 480 stores world wide that generates around $3 billion in sales every year.

Of course, the couple didn’t always had it easy: After moving to America from Korea in 1981, Do Won had to work three jobs at the same time to make ends meet. According to Forbes, Do Won Chang worked as a janitor, gas station attendant, and in a coffee shop when he first moved to America. Do Won decided on a retail career while pumping gas, one of several jobs he juggled as a new immigrant. Of course, the retail career later turned into the fashion brand Forever 21.

A few years before Do Won Chang moved to America, he started a coffee delivery business in the Myungdong district in Seoul.

Since launching and working on Forever 21, the husband and wife team’s personal net worth has been estimated by Forbes to be $4+ billion. The role is complimented perfectly between the both of them: Mrs. Chang approves the designs of the company’s merchandise, while Mr. Chang focuses on turning Forever 21 into the fastest fast-fashion chain in the business, and in the process he has made the company widely successful.

What’s the secret behind it?

In a video interview, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Do Won Chang shared with Mint his learning about women’s fashion, the brand’s focus on Asian countries and what keeps the company ahead of its competition. The responses are editted slightly.

Where do you see India in your growth plan?

We have a store in Dubai and also in the UK, where we have a lot of indian customers, especially fashionable customers, so I think this is a perfect market for Forever 21.

How has your journey been so far as an entrepreneur? 

I’m always challenged. Passion has always driven me. As an entrepreneur you also have to change always.

What is your focus right now?

The number one population in the world is China plus India, which is one third of the world’s population. They are also very young, so the opportunity there is big.

What is your learning about women’s fashion?

Women’s fashion is very difficult because it is changing everyday. Fashion changes so fast, so time is the most important thing. If you are too late, you are too late. If you are too early, you are too early. So timing is very important.

How do you see Forever 21 as a brand?

I think right now everyone is very similar. Although the looks are similar, we are totally different.

What keeps Forever 21 going?

We keep changing. We are always thinking about customer , not just for the company. That’s why we are successful.

Here’s the full interview if you are interested:

Inspired?enablejsapi=1&html5=1& The Changs are definitely great example of how success is 1% Inspiration and 99% perspiration. While we often focus on the success, few knew that CEO Do Won Chang worked as a janitor, gas station attendant, and in a coffee shop before starting Forever 21.

Read also:  WhatsApp has 400 Million Monthly Users; building a 100 year old company

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19 of the most inspiring rags-to-riches stories in business

George soros survived the nazi occupation of hungary to become one of the world's most successful investors..

Larry Ellison grew up in a poor Chicago neighborhood before co-founding Oracle.

Ellison was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. After he contracted pneumonia as a baby, his mother was unable to care for him, and instead sent him to live with her aunt and uncle on the South Side of Chicago. He has never met his birth father, and didn't even know he was adopted until much later in life.

In 1977, he co-founded a database management company called Software Development Laboratories. They changed the name to Relational Software in 1979, and in 1982, it became Oracle. Today, Oracle has annual revenues of around $38 billion, and Ellison has an estimated net worth of $46.2 billion. He's amassed all of the toys you'd expect from a billionaire — planes, yachts, multiple mansions, and even an entire Hawaiian island. He stepped down from his CEO role in 2014.

John Paul DeJoria lived in his car before John Paul Mitchell Systems took off.

As a first-generation American, DeJoria had it rough from the beginning . His Greek and Italian parents divorced when he was two, and he sold Christmas cards and newspapers to help support his family before he turned 10. He was eventually sent to live in a foster home in Los Angeles.

DeJoria spent some time with an L.A. gang before joining the military. After trying his hand as an employee for Redken Laboratories , he took a $700 dollar loan and created John Paul Mitchell Systems. He hawked the company's shampoo door-to-door, living out of his car while doing so. But the quality of the product could not be denied, and now JPM Systems has annual revenues of nearly $1 billion. He also created Patron Tequila and has a hand in a variety of industries, from diamonds to mobile phones.

Do Won Chang worked three jobs to make ends meet before starting Forever 21.

Do Won Chang and his wife, Jin Sook, moved to America from Korea in 1981. When they first arrived, Do Won was forced to work three jobs at the same time to support them, as a janitor, a gas station attendant, and in a coffee shop. Eventually, they were able to open their first clothing store in 1984.

That one store grew into Forever 21, which pioneered fast fashion and is now a multi-national, 480 store empire that generates around $3 billion in sales a year. It's a family business, with the couple's daughters Linda and Esther helping to run the company.

"Forever 21 gives hope to people who come here with almost nothing," Don told the LA Times . "And that is a reward that humbles me: The fact that immigrants coming to America, much like I did, can come into a Forever 21 and know that all of this was started by a simple Korean immigrant with a dream."

Zdenek Bakala fled communist Czechoslovakia with only $50 and is now a coal magnate.

In 1980, when he was 19 years old , Bakala fled communist Czechoslovakia with a $50 dollar bill that had been wrapped in plastic and hidden in a sandwich. He made it to Lake Tahoe, where he washed dishes at a Harrah's casino.

He eventually got an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Dartmouth. He went into banking, and eventually back to his home company, opening Credit Suisse First Boston's first officer in Prague after the Wall fell. In 1994 he founded the first investment bank in the Czech Republic. He presides over a coal company as well as an iron ore company, though both have seen their share prices fall dramatically within the last year.

Guy Laliberté ate fire on the streets before introducing Cirque du Soleil to the world.

The Canadian-born Laliberté began his circus career busking on the streets: playing accordion, walking on stilts, and eating fire. He tempted fate by bringing a successful troupe from Quebec to the Los Angeles Arts Festival in 1987, with no return fare . The bet paid off, and the circus group was eventually brought to Las Vegas, where they became the world-famous Cirque du Soleil we know today.

Today, Laliberté is the CEO of Cirque, a professional poker player and space tourist, with an estimated net worth of $1.98 billion.

Ursula Burns grew up in a housing project on Manhattan's Lower East Side and now runs Xerox.

Before the Lower East Side was cool, it was a hub for gangs. Burns was raised by her single mother in a housing project there. Her mother ran a daycare center out of her home and ironed shirts so that she could afford to send Ursula to Catholic school. She went to NYU, and from there became an intern at Xerox.

She's now Xerox's CEO and chairwoman . Burns is the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.

Howard Schultz grew up in the Brooklyn projects before becoming CEO of Starbucks.

Schultz grew up in the Bayview projects of Canarsie, Brooklyn. He always wanted to climb "over the fence" and go beyond the lifestyle provided by his truck-driving father. He excelled at sports and eventually earned a football scholarship to the University of Northern Michigan.

After graduating with a degree in communications, Schultz went to work for Xerox before discovering a small coffee shop called Starbucks. Enamored with the coffee, he left Xerox to become the company's chief executive in 1987. After beginning with 60 shops, Starbucks now has more than 21,000 stores in 65 countries, and Schultz has a net worth of $3.1 billion.

Li Ka-shing quit school at 15 to work in a plastics factory and is now the richest man in Hong Kong.

The family of Li Ka-shing fled mainland China for Hong Kong in 1940, and Li's father died of tuberculosis when he was just 15. Quitting school to work to support his family, Li made plastics and later plastic flowers for US export .

By 1950 Li was able to start his own company, Cheung Kong Industries. While at first manufacturing plastics, the company later moved into real estate. Similarly, Li expanded his ownership of different companies, and today has his hand in banking, cellular phones, satellite television, cement production, retail outlets, hotels, domestic transportation, airports, electric power, steel production, ports, and shipping, among other industries. He employs more than 270,000 people in 52 countries, according to Forbes.

Francois Pinault is a high school dropout who operates luxury goods group Kering with his family.

Pinault quit high school in 1947 after being teased for his poor background. He joined his family's timber trading business and in the 1970s began buying up smaller firms. His ruthless business tactics — including slashing jobs and selling his timber company only to buy it back at a fraction of the cost when the market crashed — gave him a reputation as a " predator ." He had similar tactics in the real estate business, and did well buying French junk bonds and taking government money to save businesses from bankruptcy.

His self-made worth helped him start Kering (formerly PPR), a luxury goods group that sells brands like Gucci, Stella McCartney, and Yves St. Laurent. At one point the richest man in France, Pinault and his family are now worth an estimated $13.2 billion .

Leonardo Del Vecchio was an orphaned factory worker whose eyeglasses empire today makes Ray-Bans and Oakleys.

Del Vecchio was one of five children who could not be supported by his widowed mother. After growing up in an orphanage, he went to work in a factory making molds for auto parts and eyeglass frames, where he lost part of his finger.

At 23, he opened his own molding shop. That eyeglass frame shop expanded to the world's largest maker of sunglasses and prescription eyewear. Luxottica manufactures sunglasses from brands like Ray-Ban and Oakley, with 6,000 retail shops like Sunglass Hut and LensCrafters. His net worth is estimated at $23.5 billion.

Kirk Kerkorian went from boxer and Royal Air Force pilot to Las Vegas mega-resort owner.

Kerkorian, the son of Armenian parents who learned English on the streets , dropped out of 8th grade to become a boxer. His family was a casualty of the Great Depression, and Kerkorian went about finding skills to help bring income home. He became a daredevil pilot for the Royal Air Force during World War II, delivering supplies over the Atlantic on routes that would crash one in four planes .

From the money he made running supplies, Kerkorian became a high roller on the craps table and eventually a real estate magnate in Las Vegas: he bought The Flamingo and built The International and MGM Grand, stalwarts of the Vegas scene.

Kerkorian died in June 2015.

Sheldon Adelson is another Las Vegas hotels magnate who tried his hand at a few industries.

Adelson grew up in tenement housing in Massachusetts , where he shared a bedroom with his parents and three siblings. His father was a Lithuanian taxi driver and his mother had a knitting store. When he was 12 years old, he started selling newspapers and a few years later ran a vending machine scheme on the same corner.

Adelson tried his hand at a few different industries, from packing hotel toiletries to mortgage brokering. His biggest break came from developing a computer trade show. He turned that wealth into a purchase of the Sands Hotel & Casino, and later the mega-resort The Venetian as well as some casinos in Macau.

His net worth is estimated at $26 billion.

Ingvar Kamprad was born in a small village in Sweden and created a mail-order business that became IKEA.

Kamprad lived the farm life growing up. But he always had a knack for business, buying matches in bulk from Stockholm to sell to his neighbors. He later expanded to fish, Christmas decorations, and pens.

Not satisfied with the small stuff, Kamprad took money from his father (a reward for good grades) and created a mail-order business that eventually became IKEA (the name comes from his initials plus those of his village and family farm). Furniture became the company's biggest seller, and Kamprad's use of local manufacturers kept his prices low. Though he has an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion, he reportedly prefers flying economy over private.

Roman Abramovich was an orphan who turned an expensive wedding gift into an oil empire.

After his parents died when he was just four, the Russian Abramovich was raised by his uncle and grandmother . Abramovich got his first break from an expensive wedding gift from his in-laws. He dropped out of college to pursue his entrepreneurial interests, which at first included selling plastic ducks out of an apartment in Moscow.

He managed a takeover of oil giant Sibneft at a bargain price in 1995. He continued to flip his investments into even larger acquisitions, including Russian Aluminum and steelmaker Evraz Group. It seems that being ruthless has paid off for the billionaire : he now owns the largest private yacht in the world, as well a Boeing 767 and homes in New York, London, and France. He's also the owner of the Chelsea Football Club.

Richard Desmond went from living above a garage to creating a magazine publishing empire.

Desmond grew up the son of a single mother after his parents divorced. The two of them lived above a garage, and, according to Desmond, he was "very fat and very lonely." He quit school at 14 to focus on being a drummer, working as a coat-checker to help pay the bills. Though he never became rich from his own musical talents, he later opened his own record shops.

Eventually Desmond published his first magazine, International Musician and Recording World. The Desmond magazine empire would expand to publications like a British version of Penthouse and Ok! , a worldwide favorite. He now owns publications around the globe and is involved in philanthropic work. He still plays with his band, RD Crusaders, whose members include former musicians from The Who and Led Zeppelin.

J.K. Rowling lived on welfare before creating the Harry Potter franchise.

In the early 1990s, Rowling had just gotten divorced and was living on welfare with a dependent child. She completed most of the first "Harry Potter" book in cafes, as walking around with her daughter, Jessica, was the best way to get her to sleep.

The "Harry Potter" franchise has become a worldwide success , and Rowling has been on and off Forbes' billionaire list .

Before Sam Walton founded Walmart, he milked cows and sold magazines in Oklahoma.

Walton's family lived on a farm in Oklahoma during the Great Depression. In order to make ends meet, he helped his family out by milking the cow and driving the milk out to customers. He also delivered newspapers and sold magazine subscriptions.

By 26, he was managing a variety store after graduating from the University of Missouri with a B.A. in economics. He used $5,000 from the army and a $20,000 loan from his father-in-law to buy a Ben Franklin variety store in Arkansas. He expanded the chain, and then went on to found Walmart and Sam's Club . He died in 1992, leaving the company to his wife and children.

Oprah Winfrey turned a life of hardship into inspiration for a multi-billion-dollar empire.

Oprah spent the first six years of her life living with her grandmother wearing dresses made out of potato sacks. After being molested by two members of her family and a family friend, she ran away from home at age 13. At 14, her newborn child died shortly after he was born. She went back to live with her mother, but it wasn't until her mother sent her to live with her father that she turned her life around .

She got a full scholarship to college, won a beauty pageant — where she was discovered by a radio station — and the rest is history. The Oprah name became an empire, and according to Forbes she is worth $3.1 billion.

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Luna Rossa win Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final to set up INEOS Britannia showdown

• Toby Heppell
• September 19, 2024

The Italian-flagged Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli have overcome American Magic to win their semi-final despite picking up damage yesterday

The fifth day of racing in the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final would see only two teams out on the water after INEOS Britannia clinched the first spot in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final, having knocked Alinghi Red Bull Racing out of the competition in yesterday’s racing.

But the today, Thursday 19 September was set to be crucial. With Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli on four wins and American Magic on three wins in the first-to-five-series and two races scheduled, one of these teams would see their America’s Cup dreams over by the end of the afternoon.

The weather was due to be similar to the conditions we have seen through most of the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals and Round Robins, with a 6-10 knot breeze forecast from the south and reasonably large swell too.

The big question on everyone’s lips was to what extent has Luna Rossa been able to repair their damaged traveller, which spectacularly failed on the final downwind of their second race yesterday, crippling the Italian boat and handing the Americans their third consecutive win of the series.

And for those of us hoping for a continuation of the close fight between these two boats, it was a relief to see Luna Rossa heading out onto the water looking fully repaired and ready for racing.

Key takeaways from the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Day 5

• Luna Rossa Vs INEOS Britannia sets up a repeat of 2021’s Challenger final
• No clear sign of any continued structural issues for Luna Rossa
• Another lost start for the Italian team may be a concern

Race 15 American Magic  Vs  Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli

Skippers American Magic: Lucas Calabrese &   Tom Slingsby Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli:  Jimmy Spithill  & Francesco Bruni

Although the forecast was for wind at the lighter end of the range, race time dawned with a decent 11 knots across most of the course. It was still a little patchy as we had seen for yesterday’s racing, but nothing like the extremely tricky conditions we have witnessed in Barcelona of late.

In the pre-start American Magic were the first team to gybe around at the right hand boundary and lead back to the start. Luna Rossa were happy to let them go initially and tacked around to gauge off well to windward. Spithill and Bruni then put their foot down to try to bear away behind the Americans and attempt to get underneath them to hook them. But it was an easy defend for Slingsby and Calabrese who bore away too to cover off the attempt.

But that had put the Italian boat very close to American Magic off their windward hip as they hit the startline and Spithill and Bruni tacked off straight out of the start. First blood to American Magic.

At the first cross American Magic was in the lead and Slingsby and Calabrese elected to tack dead in front of the starboard-tacked Luna Rossa.

Luna Rossa tacked straight away with a small amount of distance to the right hand layline, meaning they would need to do several tacks in quick succession. But the right hand side of the course had a touch more wind and when the two boats next crossed, with Luna Rossa once again on starboard, American Magic were still ahead but the gap was shrinking.

American Magic tried to do repeat their previous trick and tack in front of Luna Rossa. But the gap had come down significantly and the Italians were able to foot underneath the Americans, get even with them and squeeze up into a high mode to force the Americans to tack away.

The key moment of the race. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

This move, coupled with a poor layline call from Slingsby and Calabrese saw Luna Rossa with a 20 second lead around the first windward gate.

Once again there was little to choose between the two boats in pure pace terms, and the downwind saw the boats fairly even. In the end it was American Magic who rounded the left gate mark 21 seconds back from Luna Rossa, who took the opposite mark.

Luna Rossa had picked the better gate, sending them to the favoured side of the course to lock in their lead and then did a decent job of keeping a loose cover on their American competition.

But there were gains to be had in the patchy conditions and American Magic managed to get back within 100m of Luna Rossa by the top mark – a gap that had been up to 400m in the early part of the leg.

Around the second windward gate, American Magic had closed the gap to a mere 8 seconds, but it was Luna Rossa once again heading out the better side of the course, having rounded the left hand gate mark (looking upwind).

And once again Spithill and Bruni showed just how impressive the Italian team can be, sailing a controlled downwind to lead by 22 seconds at the leeward gate.

Luna Rossa was looking a polished team and hooked up the shifts on the final windward leg. With fewer options on the table, and the finish looming ever-closer, American Magic also had to take a slightly riskier tactical strategy.

As such the lead really blew out on the final upwind to see American Magic round the windward gate for the last time fully 51 seconds behind and in need of a miracle to keep their America’s Cup dream alive.

But another unlikely America’s Cup comeback was not to be and Luna Rossa cruised down the final leg to take the win and in so doing book their place in the Louis Vuitton Cup Final, where they will meet INEOS Britannia.

“We’re super happy. Almost more than when we won the Prada Cup in Auckland, it’s been a fantastic journey these super semi-finals. We had some pressure for sure but it was great to reply strongly to that pressure,” said a clearly elated Franscesco Bruni after racing – once he finished whooping and hollering.

“The last 24 hours have been the toughest for the shore team, but we are a super strong team and They deserve this… Everyone deserves this.”

“First of all I’d like to congratulate American Magic for putting up one hell of a fight,” said ‘Spithill. “We got to 4-0 up and they are a champion team and they showed that.”

“Congratulations to Luna Rossa, the better team won,” said a deflated Tom Slingsby. “We’ve got to hold our heads high – as much as I’m rueing a few of my bad decisions during that race. A huge thank you to everyone in the American Magic family from all our supporters and family who are tirelessly with us through the shore team for the work they did on the boat to the designers and sailors and management.”

Luna Rossa celebrate as they cross the line to win. Photo: Ian Roman / America’s Cup

What did we learn from the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Final Race 15?

There were question marks about whether Luna Rossa would be able to be as competitive after a night of round-the-clock surgery to repair yesterday’s structural damage. But the boat looked for all the world exactly as she has in every other race.

These two boats have been very closely matched throughout the competition and it was essentially one small mistake on the first beat that lost this, with American Magic electing to try to tack in front of Luna Rossa, when they probably should have ducked them, tacked on the layline and held starboard advantage going into the top gate.

On such fine margins can America’s Cup racing be won or lost and from 4-0 down it was always going to require something close to perfection for Slingsby and Co. to make it through to the finals.

For their part this is the second America’s Cup in a row that the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic has arrived with a decent looking boat, but circumstances have seen them ejected in the Semi-Finals.

Luna Rossa continues to look like a polished outfit (figuratively and literally in their shiny silver AC75 ), but they have show a few weaknesses here. In particular they have been poor off the startline throughout the Semi-Final and today they lost the start again – although arguably they would have been happy to be the first to the favoured right of the course.

There is now exactly 1 weeks gao before the first-to-seven-wins Louis Vuitton Cup Final takes place between INEOS Britannia and Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli. Roll on Thursday 26 September.

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