About
Everlane was founded in 2010 by Michael Preysman and Jesse Farmers as a direct-to-consumer online menswear retailer. Their first claim to fame was selling a $15 basic men’s tee with a $6.50 markup while other designer brands were marking up similar tees by $45. Everlane was born to bring design-driven quality garments to consumers at a fraction of the price. They were committed to transparency in the pricing and production efforts.
Since its launch, Everlane has entered into new categories like womenswear and footwear and has grown a cult-like following, with customers joining huge waitlists for various product drops. When Everlane first introduced denim in 2018, nearly 44,000 people joined the waiting list. In 2018, Everlane began opening brick-and-mortar stores.
Sustainability and ethical fashion have become prominent in Everlane’s marketing messaging. In 2017, the company trademarked the phrase “radical transparency.” According to their website, “At Everlane, we want the right choice to be as easy as putting on a great T-shirt. That’s why we partner with the best ethical factories around the world. Source only the finest materials. And share those stories with you—down to the true cost of every product we make. It’s a new way of doing things. We call it Radical Transparency.”
In recent years, the company has come under fire for toxic workplace culture and unfair employment practices. Additionally, some have claimed that Everlane’s marketing claims are baseless and that the organization is not as committed to sustainability and ethical fashion as it claims.
It seems that Everlane has taken these claims seriously, put forth more substantial sustainability commitments, and is working towards third-party certifications. See below for specifics on Everlane’s path to sustainability.
What's proper
- The Denim. In 2017, Everlane launched their World’s Cleanest Denim line. The line included denim made from GOTS-certified cotton and Roica v550 yarn, a compostable yarn made without chemicals. They partnered with the Saitex factory in Vietnam to manufacture the line. The Saitex factory uses renewable energy, recycles 98% of its water, and uses technologies to reduce pollution.
- Pioneers in supply chain transparency: In 2013, Everlane shared the story, images, and details behind their products and factories. While some claim that Everlane’s transparency is just an empty marketing scheme, giving consumers a behind-the-scenes look at production and sourcing processes has become a standard that ethical consumers expect.
- Sustainability commitments and progress tracking: Though we think Everlane was late to making serious sustainability commitments, their progress is laudable. Everlane has become more transparent in its sustainability approach and tracking its commitments. Since making commitments in 2020, their efforts have been comprehensive and impressive.
- Everlane launched Cleaner Fashion icons to help customers identify products meeting various sustainability criteria. The brand uses ten icons, including Organic Cotton, Cleaner Cotton, Renewed Materials, Reduced Water Use, Cleaner Chemistry, And Ever-Better Factory.
- Everlane Denim is made at Saitex USA, a denim factory in LA that is known as the “Cleanest Denim Factory in the World.” As a Certified B-Corp, Saitex pushes the boundaries of innovation to reduce environmental impact. For example, Saitex denim uses 1.5 liters of water per pair of jeans, while traditional denim manufacturing uses up to 80 liters of water.
What's not
- Everlane was late to the sustainability game. As a brand with such a strong influence and colossal following, Everlane could have and should have started making commitments and significant progress toward sustainability earlier in its history. Everlane first started measuring its carbon footprint and establishing corporate DEI initiatives in 2020.
- 78% of the products offered in 2022 were associated with at least one Everlane Cleaner Fashion icon. They aim to get to 100% by 2025. While we agree that the Cleaner Fashion iconography helps consumers identify products with essential qualities, Everlane should push harder to incorporate sustainability efforts throughout its product catalog. Additionally, the criteria required for each icon are a little weak. For example, a product can have the Organic Cotton icon if only 50% of the cotton is certified organic; similarly, the renewed materials icon only requires 50% recycled content. The use of these icons might be misleading to consumers and signal that Everlane is further along in its journey toward sustainability.
Overall, Everlane has firm future commitments and is making significant progress towards sustainability. We wish Everlane prioritized sustainability earlier and was further along in making all of its operations genuinely sustainable. Regarding denim, Everlane does meet the mark in terms of sustainability.
