Sustainable Fashion Isn't Dead. It Just Never Lived Inside One Brand

If you have any interest in clothing (or just DTC brands), it’s been hard to miss the news about Everlane selling to Shein. The premise and ethos of Everlane when it launched spoke to many of us millennials: a few pieces, well made, reasonably priced, transparent supply chains. Literally every buzzword that made us swoon and drool. And in the beginning, things were great. I remember the first scoop neck t-shirt I bought, the compliments I got, and my enthusiastic insistence on telling anyone who didn’t even asked that it was from this new brand called Everlane. My favorite piece was probably an olive green swing trench coat that I wore for many, many years and sadly lost in a move.

But I haven’t shopped the brand in the last few years. The pricing, the fit, and the sheer overabundance of it all lost me. And judging by my Instagram feed when I reposted that news, I’m not alone in that behavior of abandoning the brand and its products.

From this news has sprouted a conversation I keep seeing: that sustainability in fashion is dead and gone. I’d push back on that, because this is complicated. The honest truth is that making anything new carries an environmental cost, so using “sustainable” as a marketing tagline was always a little hollow. And while secondhand shopping is genuinely a better answer, it doesn’t work for everyone or every need.

So in a capitalist economy, maybe sustainability in fashion isn’t about one massive company trying to do it all. It’s perhaps about a plethora of small ones that cater to diverse styles and needs, focus on small-batch quality manufacturing, and price things fairly. That’s why I love talking about brands like Chava Studio or Goldstories. They’re small. They’re attuned to what their niche customers actually want. Their pieces are an investment and there’s a clear rationale for that investment.

In that same vein, when Subikksha from Goldstories told me she was launching a new venture in clothing, my first thought was: how do you have the time?! My second was: this is so needed. She isn’t launching her own brand. Rather, she’s curating trunk shows featuring global brands with a truly unique point of view and pieces built for real life. The Alamaari Room, as she describes it, “is an evolving space for independent designers and craft houses. Clothing, jewelry, and the objects of a life, all made slowly. Our pieces arrive in volumes, organized by feeling rather than seasons. Bodies of work, not drops.”

I am completely obsessed with that vision. She’s hosting their first trunk show this weekend and you can RSVP here. If you’re in the Bay Area, I cannot recommend it enough — it’s May 22nd (TOMORROW!) 11:30am–2:00pm. And if you are not in the Bay Area, you can shop it online!

Here’s more from Subikksha on her new venture:

1. Can you share a little bit about your background?

I spent 13 years in tech, data and analytics, before deciding I wanted to build something that felt more personal and more mine. I grew up in Chennai in a family where the things you owned told stories. My grandmothers treated every gold piece they bought as savings, as something to pass down. That relationship with objects, with curation, with things that carry meaning, has always been part of how I think. Moving to San Francisco, becoming a mother, stepping out of a long career in tech, all of that made me very clear about what I wanted to spend my time on. I started Goldstories during maternity leave, designing fine jewelry meant to be worn, carried forward, and eventually handed down. The Alamaari Room came from that same clarity, just applied to fabrics

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2. What made you want to launch Alamaari Room?

Honestly, I didn’t plan to launch something new alongside Goldstories. It felt very adjacent to what we were already doing, I was already building trunk shows and curating experiences for our clientele. At some point last year, in the middle of all of that, I realized I had all these other brands I love that I hadn’t seen around here the way I see them in other parts of the world. I also just love shopping. I’ve shopped from many of these brands for years, and recently discovered some new ones. That’s really where the curation comes from. The idea had been dormant in me for a while, but building Goldstories made it feel like the right time to bring it to life.

3. What do you feel makes Alamaari Room unique?

It was completely unintentional, but all the brands we brought together are so deeply rooted in how they started. It’s not one theme or one aesthetic. Bodements is repurposing vintage clothes, Injiri is putting Indian textiles front and center, Goldstories is focused on limited run 14k pieces built around collaborations with people from different walks of life. Each brand is unique in its own way. And what I love is that these pieces go beyond what’s meant for any one region. I see them perfectly here in San Francisco, for people who love unique pieces, and want to integrate beautiful textiles and forms into their everyday life.

4. What is something you wish your consumers knew or understood about your industry?

What I really wish consumers knew is this: even though fashion and jewelry feel trend based, they’re really not. It’s mostly cycles. Something from the eighties comes back, something from the nineties shows up in 2024. So go with what makes you feel unique and is relevant to you at that point in your life, not what the internet is telling you to do. Shopping online is great, but experience a piece in person if you can. Feel it, wear it. If it feels like you, trust that instinct.

5. Can you share a little about any exciting launches coming up for Alamaari Room?

Yes, our very first event is coming up. Alamaari Room is planned to happen in volumes, and Volume One is called Beyond Seasons. Every piece we’ve curated can be styled through any season, which feels perfect for San Francisco and its microclimates. The launch event is on the 22nd at Tiya, a beautiful contemporary Indian restaurant in the Marina. Beyond that, we’re planning more trunk shows in homes and event spaces, and we might even take the concept to LA and New York.

6. Where can consumers learn more about you/ Alamaari Room?

You can find us at thealmaariroom.com, and follow along on Instagram @thealamaariroom for updates on events and designers.

7. A fun one: what is something unexpected someone might find in your bag? Bonus points for a “What’s in my bag” photo!

My kids’ snacks. Unexpected if you don’t have kids, completely self explanatory if you do.

All images courtesy of Subikksha and The Alamaari Room

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