Sustainable fashion darling Everlane just sold to Shein, the industry’s least sustainable company. What does this shocking deal say about both companies, along with the state of “sustainable” fashion?
I spoke with Ken Pucker, former Timberland COO and professor at Tufts University, one of my favorite experts on this topic. He explains why Everlane was never all that “sustainable,” why Shein would want this, and why it’s hard to be optimistic about the future of fashion.
In this episode of Journey to Regeneration, Christopher Marquis speaks with Ken Pucker, former COO of Timberland and one of the most thoughtful critics of modern corporate sustainability. Drawing on his experience helping build Timberland into one of the earliest high-profile examples of responsible business, Pucker reflects on the evolution of sustainability over the past two decades. The conversation also explores why many mission-driven companies, including Allbirds and Everlane, struggled not because sustainability itself failed, but because of tensions between long-term purpose and growth-oriented business models shaped by venture capital and public markets. Pucker also examines the structural incentives that continue to reward overproduction, low costs, and environmental externalization across the fashion industry, while discussing the role of policy initiatives such as the New York Fashion Act in creating stronger accountability around emissions and supply chains. Throughout the episode, the discussion moves beyond simplistic “win-win” sustainability narratives to confront deeper questions about governance, capitalism, incentives, and whether current economic systems are capable of delivering the scale of transformation required for a livable future.
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.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/shein-buys-everlane-9.7208759
Fast-fashion giant Shein’s rumored acquisition of sustainability-focused retailer Everlane for a reported $100 million has raised fresh concerns about environmental values and credibility in the fashion world.
The reports of the potential sale, first reported by Puck, are based on an anonymous source that Newsweek was unable to independently verify. When contacted for comment, a spokesperson for Everlane told Newsweek: “We don’t have more to share at this time,” noting that the company would be in touch. Newsweek has contacted Shein for comment via email and the company’s online contact form.
https://www.newsweek.com/shein-everlane-deal-sustainable-retail-market-11971329
verlane as we know it is all but cooked. The San Francisco–based clothing retailer, which once touted its commitment to “radical transparency” about its pricing and supply chain, has reportedly been acquired by the ultra-fast fashion brand Shein for $100 million, per a Puck report this week. For industry insiders and consumers alike, the news raised alarm bells. How can a sustainable darling of the 2010s sell out to one of the biggest polluters in the fashion industry?
https://www.gq.com/story/everlane-shein-allbirds-sustainability
As Kenneth Pucker reports in the Harvard Business Review, “Like all industries, fashion is nested in a broader system. It is a system premised on growth. The urge to sell more and get consumers to buy more is still in the DNA of the industry.”
The fashion industry is rapacious. Production has doubled over the past 15 years and will double again by 2030 while the amount of time clothing is worn has dropped 40%. Every year, fashion uses vast amounts of earthly resources, makes between 100-150 billion garments, incinerates or landfills 87% and creates 92 millions of tons of waste.
https://www.ntxe-news.com/artman/publish/article_145439.shtml
“Allbirds recognized that the scale of our shared environmental challenges cannot be addressed by companies acting in isolation — no matter that company’s size,” said Ken Pucker, the former Timberland chief operating officer who is now professor of practice at Tufts’ Fletcher School. “All of the brand’s natural materials innovations were co-developed and openly shared with their competitors.”
https://trellis.net/article/what-allbirds-got-right/
Some in the industry are becoming more vocal in suggesting that government, not brands, should be responsible for violations deep in the luxury supply chain and things are getting political.
https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/luxury-hits-back-on-sweatshop-scandals-were-not-the-financial-police/?utm_source=newsletter_dailydigest&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily_Digest_271025&utm_term=F2G5L7RRDVBHJKFPPHLF5MQRAY&utm_content=top_story_2_dek
Whether the fashion industry is or isn’t in a so-called “sustainability retreat,” as Tufts University professor Ken Pucker first described a year ago, has been a bone of contention. What some have characterized as a much-needed reset to adapt to turbulent economic and geopolitical realities is being interpreted by others as a feckless rollback of once-vaunted, if perhaps overly confident, greenhouse gas ambitions.
https://sourcingjournal.com/sustainability/sustainability-news/fashion-industry-sustainability-retreat-climate-commitments-1234783318/
The company’s emissions fell by a third in five years, but retiring its 2040 net-zero pledge puts the brand at odds with the mainstream.
https://trellis.net/article/ralph-lauren-rolling-emissions-ditches-net-zero-target/