A Sustainable Fashion Brand Was Just Sold to Shein. I Know How We Ended Up Here.
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In light of the hard-to-fathom recent news of Everlane’s imminent sale, I’m going to try to explain the hold that emails from this brand had over me circa the years 2016 to 2019. But really there’s no explaining that kind of black magic. Back then, I was diligent about unsubscribing from marketing emails, but Everlane’s were different. The minimalist, online-only (at first anyway) retailer introduced new products one at a time, and I simply could not miss an announcement that they were launching a Square Silk Shirt or a Waffle Knit Sweater or Modern Loafer Mules. The scarcity made each launch feel like an event capable of ever-so-slightly shifting the Earth’s axis. Everything was going to be different now that Everlane was making Chelsea boots. Pants silhouettes were in a destabilizing state of flux during this time, you have to remember, but Everlane was there to show the women of Brooklyn and San Francisco the way.
I feel like a big old dork about this now, of course. The fast-fashion giant Shein is reportedly buying Everlane, putting an ugly punctuation mark on the dream of a more ethical fashion brand that preached “radical transparency” along with its chic basics. Most people seem to be lamenting this news along with me, but it has also inspired the occasional chide: The Guardian quoted a British sustainable fashion consultant who commented, “The people asking, ‘where am I going to shop now?’ when they have a wardrobe full of Everlane clothing, are part of the problem.” My bad, I guess. “I did not know so many ppl were still shopping at Everlane like that,” wrote one popular Substacker. It feels a bit like when some famous person is accused of malfeasance and a bunch of people rush to social media to declare that they always got “weird vibes” from that person. Good for you, but I just thought I found some cool enough, reasonably affordable corduroys whose purchase wouldn’t actively make the world a worse place. I’ll try not to be so naive again.
I’m not going to stop wearing the Everlane clothes I have because of its sinister new ownership; that wouldn’t be very sustainable of me, and some of them are still in good shape. Others fell apart years ago. That’s one of the funny and poignant things about buying clothes: You never know which items are going to stay with you for years and years and become the literal fabric of your life and which you are going to accidentally leave at the laundromat or stain or stop wearing because they’re no longer in fashion. And that’s part of why this news feels like such a betrayal: Are these clothes that have stood the test of time and become a part of my story now tainted? In the spirit of taking stock of my relationship with Everlane, I present a personal history of everything I ever bought from them, which I attempted to reconstruct via the order confirmations in my inbox.
Unknown Year: Black Leather Slide Sandals, Unknown Price
The greatest sandals of all time, with wide criss-cross leather straps and a Birkenstock-lite contoured sole. I wore them for years upon years, always planning to retire them and switch to new sandals, but I could never find anything as good. They’re actually still in decent shape and in my closet. I must have bought them using my old AOL email address, which is why I don’t have any record of it. But I think they were my first purchase from the brand because I remember wearing them in line, probably with a bunch of other Everlane-wearing millennials, to see Kara Walker’s A Subtlety, her giant sculpture in the old Domino Sugar Factory, in summer 2014. The lifetimes we’ve all lived since then!
2015: His Linen Short-Sleeve, White, $50
I have no memory of this—was it for my boyfriend at the time?—and my records tell me I returned it.
2016: Twill Tote, Black With Black Leather, $48
Another winner, this was a roomy tote that I used as my purse and would drag from all day at the office to an exercise class to dinner to the grocery store and beyond. It wasn’t really cute enough to wear to bars, but I think I did anyway. I took it out of rotation when it started to show signs of wear, but I still have it somewhere.
2016: Women’s Slingback Sandal, Black + Black, $98
I loved these flat leather sandals too, but about a year after I bought them, the snaps on them broke. I wrote Everlane a sob story about how disappointed I was ($98 was a lot of money to me, especially then!) and to their credit, they gave me a full refund. I think I got them fixed at the cobbler eventually, but the magic was gone.
2018: Authentic Stretch Mid-Rise Skinny, Mid Blue, $50, and Authentic Stretch High-Rise Cigarette Jean, Washed Black, $50
It was the last gasp for skinny jeans and the beginning of super high-rise pants. I returned the first pair but the second, slightly less skinny pair, which had a high button waist, helped me eventually transition toward straight legs, a scary prospect at the time. Still have them, saving them for the next pant-leg revolution in the late 2030s.
2019: ReNew Barely There Hipster in Light Tan and Black, $11 each; ReNew Barely There Thong in Light Tan, $11; and Japanese GoWeave Long-Sleeve Mini Wrap Dress, Dusty Blue, $66
All three of these pairs of underwear fell apart. I don’t think I had ever experienced underwear instantly falling apart before, but the seams were, like, glued instead of sewn? This may have been the first sign that quality was going downhill. However, we take the bad with the good, because I still have and love that blue dress. Someone once told me it made me look like a stewardess (complimentary). I wore it on many dates, including my first one with my now-fiancé, so thank you, Everlane.
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2019: Boss Bag, Pebbled Black, $169
It was one of the more expensive bags I’ve ever bought, and I really like how huge it is (ludicrously capacious even), but the strap eventually started to fall apart. I had it replaced, but they weren’t able to match the leather, so now it doesn’t look as nice.
2022: Organic Cotton Waffle Cardigan, Ice Blue, $26
The imperial era was definitely over, and I stopped buying from Everlane for a while. I would browse their sales when they had them, though, and eventually picked up this cardigan, which is cute but I sort of regret the color, it’s too light for me.
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2024: Corduroy Gardener Pant, Navy, $38
I bought these on final sale, marked down from $128. I kind of hate this style of pants but felt I needed to participate in it, you know? They’re an awkward length that you have to wear with boots in the winter, with tights or tall socks under the boots so your skin doesn’t peek out.
2026: Muscle Top in Butterlite, Bone, $29; Essential Square-Neck Tank, Deep Cobalt, $11; and Pleated Crepe Midi Skirt, Black, $67
I bought these in March on sale. I haven’t worn either of the tops yet, but I like the skirt OK. Everlane started off with so much promise, but even if they hadn’t sold out to Shein, they’ve gone from “greatest sandals of all time” to some basics that I couldn’t even be bothered to wear over the course of two months, a pretty lame trajectory. If the 2016 version of the brand had sold to Shein, I might be in more of a moral quandry, but as it is, I don’t think it will be hard to stay away. Everlane had already become whateverlane, but now, it might as well be neverlane.
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