Everlane × SHEIN – The Collab No One Wanted

Is nothing sacred anymore?! We were already thrown by Allbirds’ dissolution into AI last month, and now we have to lose a staple sustainable brand we’ve been depending on since 2010? What is going on? 

‍

Opening its brand sixteen years ago with the tagline, “Modern Basics, Radical Transparency,” we’re now seeing a complete 180 as Everlane sells to SHEIN. It seems suspect that a brand which spent over a decade building a sustainable fashion empire has sold out to the kingpin of its antithesis, so we did some digging. Here’s what you need to know.

‍

Everlane was deep in the red with 100 million USD worth of debt, racked up from efforts to recover its waning popularity, which had been in steady decline since the early 2020s. In order to take a deal like this, one would have to reach new levels of desperation, and that’s exactly where the parent company L Catterton found itself over the weekend. Everlane needed to offload this drainage, and no one else was willing to pay. 

‍

Though Everlane will not be selling one-use plastic clothing on its site, it is questionable that it can maintain its “Keep Earth Clean, Keep Earth Cool, Do Right by People” ethos while answering to this new owner. An owner that produces 1 billion pieces a day under dangerous working conditions, and was named by Yale as the biggest polluter in fast fashion. Right now, there’s not enough information surrounding the continuation of Everlane’s sustainability practices, so we just have to wait and see.

‍

In the meantime, don’t worry about having to find new options all on your own. Our team’s expert list of brand ratings is here for this very reason. We’ve got you. Here are some great alternatives for the once classic Everlane: 

‍

• If you find yourself missing the basics, we’d direct you to MATE the label, Another Tomorrow, and Armed Angels. 
• If you’re an avid participant in ballet flat summer, see the options at Reformation.
• If their sweaters were what got you, check out Eileen Fischer. 
• If you’ve just lost your favorite place to buy denim, try out Nudie Jeans or Edwin USA.
• And if you loved the quality of their intimates, try giving Subset a go!

‍

If you adored this brand like many of us once did, it’s still perfectly alright to buy secondhand. Their practices were once great, and purchasing an old piece from an excommunicated brand is gentler on the Earth than buying new, regardless.