Fast-fashion brand Shein buys eco-conscious Everlane

Everlane, the sustainable fashion brand which sought to change the industry with its “radical transparency” approach, has been bought by online fast fashion retailer Shein.

In an emailed statement from Everlane on Friday, CEO Alfred Chang said the two companies reached an agreement for the sale.

Chang said that Everlane will remain an independent brand committed to sustainability and “exceptional quality.”

“This partnership creates incredible new possibilities to accelerate that vision and with greater reach, while staying grounded in our core principles,” Chang said in the statement.

Shein did not respond to multiple requests for comment from CBC News.

Puck News first reported that the sale had been approved by the company’s board last weekend. A representative for Everlane would not say when the deal was finalized, but the New York Times reported that the deal for private equity firm L Catterton to sell its majority stake in Everlane was finalized on Friday.

While Everlane did not disclose the financial terms of the sale, Puck News had reported that the deal valued Everlane at $100 million US. In recent years, the company has struggled with faltering sales and amassed $90 million US in debt. 

The initial report spurred a shockwave of online backlash among fans of the brand who saw the sale as a reversal of the brand’s climate consciousness.

“It’s distressing because of the appearance that one of the world’s least sustainable companies [is] buying a company that tried to demonstrate a different path,” said Ken Pucker, former COO of footwear and clothing brand Timberland and a professor at Massachusetts’ Tufts University focused on sustainability.

“The irony is inescapable.”

Everlane built their brand on ethical production and sustainability, partnering with what they say are ethical factories and sourcing quality materials, and sharing those details with consumers in an approach they called “radical transparency.”

Everlane also broke down the cost of the materials that went into a garment, which was incredibly new and influential when the company was first coming up in the 2010s, according to Laura Cristinzo, program manager at the non-profit Fashion Takes Action.

“It was really an intelligent way of … exposing the costs of making a garment. And I think that was really educational for a lot of consumers,” she said.

Shein, on the other hand, churns out thousands of new products daily — with some estimated figures in the ballpark of 10,000 — at incredibly cheap prices, reportedly by labourers working extensive hours each week. A previous CBC Marketplace investigation also found that Shein, among other retailers, were selling…