Shein, the online retailer that has become the de facto face of ultra fast fashion, has acquired Everlane, a U.S. retailer branded as sustainable, according to Everlane’s chief executive.
In a deal that was finalized on Friday, L Catterton, the private equity firm backed by luxury conglomerate LVMH, sold its majority stake in Everlane. The company would not say how much it was sold for, but Puck News had reported over the weekend that the price was $100 million. The brand had once aspired to reach $1 billion a year in sales of items like button-down shirts, slacks and striped T-shirts. In 2016, the company said it was valued at $250 million.
Alfred Chang, Everlane’s chief executive, said in a statement to The New York Times that Everlane will “remain an independent brand” and keep its “sustainability commitments.” He framed the acquisition as a way to expand the brand’s global reach and “accelerate” their vision.
Chang will remain in his role, according to a memo sent to staff by Chang and Everlane’s leadership and seen by The Times.
Representatives for Shein and L Catterton did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
After reports last weekend that L Catterton’s board had approved a deal, it set off a wave of backlash for Everlane, whose consumers saw the proposed sale to the ultra fast fashion giant as a betrayal of the brand’s climate-conscious ethos. Outlets like the Guardian and GQ all but wrote elegies for Everlane and the era of slow fashion.
“I don’t think it’s a surprise that Everlane has been acquired,” said Neil Saunders, the managing director and retail analyst at GlobalData. “I think the brand has a lot of debt, it hasn’t been performing, and I think it’s been looking for someone to buy it out.”
“I think the surprising part,” he added, “is that Shein has stepped in.”
Offloading Everlane’s $90 million in debt was cited in reports as a driver of the sale. The acquisition, according to the memo sent to staff, will “gives us the stability and resources to make a larger impact.”
Chang addressed the backlash in the memo stating that the “past week has been a hard one. Seeing our company in the media, and in that light, was painful.”
Things weren’t always so tenuous at Everlane. Established in 2011 by Michael Preysman, the brand was positioned as a more transparent rival to the Gap. The label offered affordable basics that came with information on where and by whom the garments were manufactured, which factored into the overall cost of, say, a pair of jeans. Everlane’s commitment to “radical transparency” and sustainability resonated with customers, particularly millennial women. Soon, other brands, like Allbirds, began offering consumers a peek behind the curtain.
That differentiation was crucial to Everlane’s ability to compete, as it was selling its wares direct-to-consumer, bypassing traditional retailers. Brands that used this model, like Warby Parker, Outdoor Voices and Glossier, were often a magnet for venture capital investment in the 2010s, and some even became unicorns, reaching valuations of over $1 billion.
Everlane, however, struggled to gain its footing in the wider apparel market and to turn a profit consistently.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the company laid off employees amid a unionizing effort, drawing scrutiny, and former Everlane employees said the company’s ethical image was an illusion. In 2023, it further reduced its staff as a means of increasing profitability.
“The transparency thing is important to some people,” Saunders said. “The wider truth is a lot of customers will say that it’s really important, but when it comes to their actual purchasing decisions, it doesn’t drive very much because they want other things like the style, the price point, and then they want the sustainability.”
Labels that held sustainability as their raison d’être have stumbled in the last few years. In 2024, Mara Hoffman shuttered her namesake brand after 24 years in business. Earlier this year, the climate-friendly sneaker brand Allbirds announced it was selling its assets for a small fraction of what it was once worth and pivoting to being an artificial intelligence firm.
Everlane’s market position was also made precarious due to the infrequency with which consumers replace wardrobe staples compared to trendier items or designs with a point of view, Saunders said.
Shein, however, may see value in bringing Everlane into its fold.
The online retailer was founded in China in 2012 and is now based in Singapore. Its popularity grew in the United States during the pandemic when shoppers, particularly Gen Z, posted the inexpensive and varied goods they bought online, amassing wide audiences.
Now, it may be reaching a ceiling when it comes to growing its business using the ultra fast-fashion model, thanks, in part, to shifting trade policies. Buying Everlane may be an attempt by Shein to tap into new consumer pockets and to soften its association with lackluster quality, ethical scandals and copyright infringement accusations.
Shein has for years been trying to improve its public image through splashy influencer trips and a non-profit organization focused on boosting sustainability. Last year, Shein announced it would open physical boutiques across France, including in BHV Marais, a luxury department store in Paris. The move was met with protests and was denounced by Anne Hidalgo, the city’s mayor at the time, who called the retailer “a symbol of fast fashion.”
Everlane’s ability to soothe the concerns of its sustainability-minded shoppers will be crucial to its survival.
“Everlane does become tarnished by being owned by Shein, and I don’t think it can be avoided,” Saunders said. “That could be quite an undoing, at least in the short term.”
Yola Mzizi is a reporter for The Times covering fashion and style.
The post Shein, the Face of Fast Fashion, Buys the Sustainability-Minded Everlane appeared first on New York Times.
