The Tamesis
On May 17, there were rumors that Shein had acquired Everlane. If there is no official confirmation after three days, it will be interpreted as a travesty: a brand popular for its commitment to radical transparency and sustainability is now protected by a brand known for opaque practices and mass production. While the news came as a shock to many customers who thought they had an approachable brand they could trust, the sale didn’t happen in a vacuum. After years of growth since launching in 2011, Everlane struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic and failed to regain its footing. Private equity firm L Catterton acquired a majority stake in the brand in 2020; founder Michael Preysman resigned in 2021, and leadership changes, layoffs and debt followed. So a $100 million acquisition shocked not only customers, but the brand’s founders as well.
Michael Preysman, who has spent the last year working on an electrolyte brand called Drink Magna, has returned to the fashion industry to speak out in his own words about what happened and what he plans to do about it.
When ultra-fast fashion brand Shein announced it was acquiring Everlane, the clothing company I founded in 2011, I quickly realized that the hottest thing I’d ever done was actually something I hadn’t done at all.
When I founded Everlane in 2011, I was 25 years old and had the privilege of working with an amazing group of people to grow it to considerable scale. We created something truly meaningful, deeply rooted in an idea that challenges companies that have zero transparency and zero knowledge of where their products are made. They mainly produce their products in China and then ship them to Italy where they complete the final steps and say “Made in Italy”. This is completely dishonest.
I grew up on the West Coast in Northern California, which is the epitome of democratization, and I felt like we could use the internet to bring that level of democratization to the most basic of products: a white T-shirt. It resonated and we were able to move from T-shirts to a full range of beautiful merchandise. It’s always been a story about selling quality and simplicity while focusing on sustainability and transparency. Around 2015 we were pretty far along on establishing ourselves as a novel concept, and then we invested in design and hired our first real creative director. In these five years, the brand has grown by leaps and bounds.
However, changes in the market and attitudes towards sustainability have transformed the business during the pandemic. We see this in the data. Everlane is about sustainability, but it’s also about overall transparency, and I think people still care about that. But the challenge facing Everlane is a lack of product-market fit. By 2021, I knew it was time for a new CEO while I remained on the board. But after the departure of Andrea O’Donnell, who was CEO from 2021 to 2024, my involvement didn’t have much of an impact and I decided now was the right time to exit completely. At the time, I didn’t see the direction the company was going in line with the original vision. Just like parents and children; sometimes you can’t tell them what to do.
When the Shein deal was finalized on May 22, people were shocked; I’d known about it 20 minutes before. I knew nothing about this and I was very disappointed. I never thought anything like this would happen. They were the opposite of what I wanted. This is obviously ironic, and in some ways it’s a bit like life is stranger than fiction. I’m disappointed with Everlane, but it also feels like I’m letting others down. I know that what we build at Everlane comes from the hearts and souls of a lot of people and starts a movement. But at the same time, it feels like the movement has dissipated in its own way. But then I saw that kind of heartfelt [negative] The reaction to the news gave some hope that many people still care. I realized that Everlane gave people the idea that the company could do better. We’re not perfect and we definitely make mistakes sometimes, but that’s part of being human.
