Recently, there has been a huge focus on ethics and sustainability in all areas of life. In the modern day, the human race has realized the negative impact that consumerism is having on the world.
Due to this, a lot of people are looking to make positive changes to reverse this negative impact. One of these changes is making the move from fast fashion to sustainable fashion.
Consumerist society has meant that we now live in a society where people only like to wear an outfit once.
There are huge amounts of people who wouldn’t be caught dead wearing the same outfit twice, and it is only now that we are seeing the negative effect that this is having on the environment.
But the only issue with moving from fast to sustainable fashion is that many companies aren’t actually sustainable.
In this guide, we’ll be taking a look at clothing brand Everlane to identify whether, or not, they are sustainable.
What is Everlane?
If you live on the West Coast, then you probably will have heard of Everlane. Everlane is an American clothing company that operates out of San Francisco, California. But they also have offices all over the world, in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and Palo Alto.
The company was first founded in 2010, and they primarily sell their clothes online, rather than having retail stores.
Lots of different companies have been built upon different principles. Everlane was set up on the principle of transparency, primarily in their pricing.
Transparent pricing involves breaking down the costs of the item, and the actions that it took to get it ready to sell, and reflecting this in the price of the clothing.
So the price at which the clothing is sold will be a true reflection of the materials and processes that lead to it being created.
Education is also a huge part of the policy at Everlane. The transparent pricing means that customers can get a true understanding of the production processes that go into creating clothing.
By doing this, the company hopes that it will lead to customers choosing sustainable clothing over fast fashion. But is Everlane actually sustainable? Let’s find out.
What is the Difference between Fast and Sustainable Fashion?
But before we take a look at whether, or not, Everlane is sustainable, let’s first take a look at the difference between fast and sustainable fashion.
Fast vs sustainable fashion is something that impacts every single process that goes into producing the clothing, depending on the style of clothing that it is.
Fast fashion is, as its name suggests, fast. It is produced quickly, and it is produced in huge amounts, and these factors combined mean that the quality of the clothing suffers.
Fast fashion is designed to be sold cheap, and because of this it isn’t built to last.
So, even if you buy fast fashion with the intention of wearing it multiple times, you likely will not be able to as this clothing will break quite quickly.
Due to this, most items of fast fashion will quickly find themselves in the landfill, and this is bad for the environment.
In contrast, sustainable fashion is built to last. It takes quite a lot longer to produce, and a lot more effort goes into the production of these clothes.
Better quality fabric is used, and a lot of the time recycled materials are used to support the environment even further. As sustainable fashion is designed to last, it will, and so fewer items of sustainable fashion find themselves in the landfill.
This is why sustainable fashion is viewed as better for the environment, and why so many people are making the change to sustainable clothing from fast fashion.
Is Everlane Sustainable?
So, Everlane was set up on the principle of educating customers through transparent pricing.
This would imply that Everlane as a company is sustainable, and that the clothing they sell is sustainable fashion. But, is this actually the case?
When Everlane first entered the market, they sold themselves as one of the first sustainable companies in the fashion world.
Their transparent pricing means that customers who purchase from Everlane can get a clear understanding of what they are paying for.
Additionally, Everlane has also been very transparent about their factories, where they are based, and how they operate. This implies that Everlane is both sustainable and ethical, but is this true, or is it simply just marketing?
On the surface, it seems that Everlane does produce sustainable clothing. Their clothing is timeless, and generally seems to be good quality, and this suggests that their clothing will be able to be worn for a long time.
But this isn’t the only way in which Everlane seems to be sustainable for the environment.
Additionally, all proceeds from their Black Friday sales go to environmental initiatives to help the world even further. The company recycles, produces carbon-neutral clothing, and they educate people in the process. But is it too good to be true?
Well, in some ways it would seem that it is. Everlane prides themselves on ‘sustainable’ clothing, but they actually only use sustainable fabric for a couple of items of their clothing.
Likewise, they lack third-party certification for the majority of the dyes that they use in their clothing.
They also do not minimize waste in the production process, and all of these factors combined suggest that Everlane isn’t actually that sustainable.
Final Thoughts
Everlane sells themselves as a sustainable company, and it seems that the base principles for this are there.
Their transparent pricing is a massive step in the right direction, and their pledges to eliminate new plastic in their pricing by 2021, and to switch cotton to certified organic cotton by 2023, only help to improve this.
But at the current moment, overall Everlane isn’t really sustainable. Yes, they do have steps in place to help the environment, but they do not use certified dyes, and they do not minimize fabric and water waste during the production process.
Due to this, at present we would say that Everlane is not sustainable, but it does look like this could change in the near future.
