Hello friends! Some of you have popped into my DM’s and comments over the last few months asking for my thoughts on Everlane. Today, I’m here to share an update.
If you’re unfamiliar with what I’m referencing, here’s a quick primer. In June, Everlane came under fire after a group of former employees shared personal accounts of toxic workplace culture, including internal systemic racism. Everlane responded with a stories-only reply. After this, several paid partners (including me) reached out to Everlane expressing our concern and wanting to know how Everlane is planning to do better in both the short and long term. We were then invited to a video call with Michael Preysman (CEO/Founder) and other members of their leadership team. They shared their internal processes with us and listened closely while we asked questions and gave our feedback. It’s safe to say all the influencers on the call felt that Everlane needed to do more and in a public way. About a week later Everlane released a more detailed response.
I responded to all of this by reaching out to Everlane and requesting that my contract (which ran through July) be put on pause while I decided if I wanted to continue working with the brand. I felt pleased with the internal initiatives that Everlane shared with me, but displeased by the fact that communicating this to their audience did not seem like it was a top priority for them.
I also decided to pause my partnership with them because I could tell from the comments on their Instagram page that their customer service team was a bit overwhelmed following a round of layoffs that affected much of their part-time remote CX staff. These firings coincided with employees in talks to form a union and the start of COVID-19 shutdowns.
In the six weeks or so since then, I’ve had time to think about my relationship with the brand, what it means to shop there, and what it means to be a proponent of them. I’ve wavered between severing ties for good and continuing to shop from, and, in turn, get paid by them. I’ve grappled with the privilege I hold as a straight, thin, white woman, and wondered if other voices would be a better showcase for the brand. I’ve also prepared my personal budget for a significant income cut.
I’ve done my best to think about the situation from every angle.
A few weeks ago, I felt a shift in my thoughts reading about Everlane joining the Black in Fashion Council. The council – spearheaded by two talented Black women in publishing and PR – launched with a few dozen brands, citing the vision of “a world in which Black people in fashion and beauty spaces can be open and honest, guaranteed equal rights, and be celebrated for our voices.” The council says they will publish a yearly public report on the brands who’ve signed the pledge, to see how they foster Black representation and Black employees and their voices at all levels of business. (Read more here.) I felt this was a clear sign that I needed to see publicly from Everlane that their desire for change is beyond talk, and inner-workplace policies (which are also critical).
Is everything all peaches with the company now? No, probably not. However, do I believe true change is in the works? Yes, I do. Do I believe most companies have internal work to do to eliminate implicit bias and foster representation of POC at all levels? Yes, I do.
Instead of writing them off, I want to use my unique position to support companies that are working to make the change happen.
With all of that in mind, I plan to resume my paid partnerships/sponsored posts with Everlane. (You can expect to see that in September.)
I appreciate those who shared their customer service experiences in this post. My hope is that as they continue to hire more employees (which they are currently doing), bad experiences will be fewer and farther between.
I realize Everlane is not for everyone, and I totally respect that.
I appreciate Everlane’s products because they are nearly unmatched in the marketplace. I can’t think of a single other brand who offers high quality items (many that are natural-fibers-based), in a breadth of styles, for accessible prices in timeless designs that you can wear for season after season. I love that Everlane has a core set of styles that they bring back year after year.
I understand if my Everlane posts aren’t for you, no hard feelings here. Everyone needs to decide for themselves which brands they feel comfortable promoting and where they feel comfortable shopping.
Thank you guys so much for listening to my thoughts, and for being a part of this community. I look forward to sharing a wide range of content this fall — including a brand new website, coming soon!
Much love xx
Thank you for keeping us updated and for your thoughtful approach to this situation. I’m hoping that this is a turning point for Everlane as a brand and that they can do better, but I’m also waiting to see results from them before making my own decisions.
Thanks for your thoughtful response Anna!
I appreciate this post and your honestly so much, Andrea! I’m glad to hear that it sounds like things are moving in a positive direction. I’ve been watching things on social media the past couple of weeks, and after learning about the ex wives club, I’ve also been unsure about how much I want to share posts centered around Everlane (I don’t have any paid partnerships but many of my readers like and shop at Everlane, and I obviously wear their products a LOT). I plan to address this on my own blog soon and will definitely include this post in that discussion.
Hi Kimi! I will be following along with your post! Thanks for chiming in!
Personally Everlane is a BS company. They love to promote how they are changing the industry when they constantly push out new clothing and promote that culture of continuous buying. That is not sustainable.
https://serc.berkeley.edu/are-the-most-popular-sustainable-clothing-brands-actually-sustainable/
Thanks for this article! Especially appreciate the alternatives mentioned.
The whole thing with Everlane has made me more acutely aware of how we judge companies based on what we know and what can be exposed rather than on some objective set of merits. It opened up a can of worms, because now I wonder what other companies are hiding or glossing over. Honestly, I am rethinking every definition of ethical fashion now, because I realize how silly it is to pretend we can know enough to make a perfectly ethical choice, or that a perfectly ethical choice even exists.
Thank you for sharing your thought process in such detail. I’ve thought about this a lot recently as well, and shared my POV in my last Everlane review. I ultimately believe it’s more helpful in the long-term to leverage relationships and influence brands to do better. Though I’ve paused my posts on them for now, I do hope to resume if they continue their progress. Within reason, I want to allow room for change and growth – no company (or person!) is perfect, even if they seem so on the outside.
Andrea, just starting following you. Thanks for writing about your association with Everlane. I’m been following its “lack of transparency” stories in the Times, a whole other topic.
My comment, however, is not about Everlanes’s business methods. It’s the merchandise! Less creative, repetitious, many dowdy pieces, drop in fabric quality. I’ve followed Everlane (and made purchased) since it began near where I live.
I find myself spending way much too time discovering (typically) new sites that haven’t been downgraded sartorially by venture capital that does more harm than good.
Please share names of new clothing sites that you find are legit. :D Thank you!
Thanks for sharing you thoughts and perspective on this! I really value your honesty and transparency. You’re doing great work, and I really value the content you create and the intention behind it. <3