Everlane’s Promise of ‘Radical Transparency’ Unravels

‘Radical Transparency,’ Reviewed

In 2017, Everlane went public with its commitment to sustainability, trademarking the phrase “radical transparency. ” By then, its meaning had evolved from being about pricing and production to ethical labor and sustainability, too. Everlane’s major period of growth came as many brands realized consumers were saying they cared about the conditions in which their clothing was made.

By 2023, the company is committing to ensure all of its cotton comes from certified organic sources, and to eliminate virgin plastic in its supply chain by 2021. Both have required heavy investment and are targets that Everlane says it is on track to meet.

Yet despite regularly auditing suppliers and using some eco-friendly materials, last year Everlane received a “not good enough” overall rating from the brand ratings platform Good on You. Everlane was marked down for failing to track greenhouse gases across its entire line, and for an absence of initiatives to guarantee living wages or reduce water use. Since then, the company has publicly said that it’s working toward third-party certifications, which could improve its future ratings.

The company has never publicly produced a corporate and social responsibility report, and it wasn’t until February that it created a chief supply-chain officer role.

“It’s a tech company that took the concept of fast fashion and made it an iota better — just one notch better — to try to appeal to a kind of San Francisco liberal consciousness,” Mr. Foor said.

“Everlane puts a great deal of focus on ‘radical transparency’ and has made it a key selling point,” said Luke Smitham, a sustainability expert at Kumi Consulting in London. “But fundamentally, what they do is not any different from most mass-market fashion brands who do exactly the same, or more.”

“They do some good work, but I wouldn’t describe it as radical. The most radical thing about Everlane is the marketing.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/fashion/everlane-employees-ethical-clothing.html