Skimpy skirts and eternal life

On the eve of the biggest holiday in Chantara's year, Black Friday, I was reminded of a shopping mystery. I recently did some holiday shopping of my own (and by "holiday", I mean shopping for myself, but doing around the holidays) and purchased a few items at Forever 21.

For those of you who don't know, Forever 21 is a miracle on earth. Its a store that is jam packed with so much merchandise that you cannot go in without 1) spending at least an hour combing through the merchandise and 2) buying at least 4 things (which will cost you around $30.) The clothes are super trendy and not well made, but even a girl of my advancing age and preppy tastes can find something there. So can club kids, budding fashionistas, pre-teen Carrie Bradshaw wannabes, and many, many more.

Today, as I was folding up the bag to reuse on another occasion (big ups to recycling!), I was reminded of a mystery that I never have solved. On the bottom of the signature Forever 21 plastic shopping bag, there is a little bit of text that if you didn't know any better is an imprint of the color of the ink used, or the batch number for the printing of the bag. But, no...for most they will recognize the ink on the bottom of that trendy, sometimes slutty clothing store bag to be - a Bible verse. And not just any Bible verse, John 3:16, the "Gospel in a nutshell":

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever
shall believe in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

I didn't even need to look it up, because I recited it dozens and dozens of time at Sunday School growing up. So the question I'm sure you're asking yourself right now is the same as I had. "Why is that there?"

Is Forever 21 owned by an evangelical Christian, much like Jessica Simpson's dad, who just wants to bring small clothing to the world? Logically, it seems that if someone was devoted enough to print that on millions of bags that little teeny-boppers (and some budding professionals) will be carrying around, that that same person probably wouldn't approve of half of the clothes that his own store is selling.

Well, thanks to the internet, we have an answer, from the New York Sun's article entitled "Evangelism in Fashion." Like usual, their author addressed the issue first and with much more literary flair than I.

P.S. In-n-Out Burger does it too...