Shopping: it's political

Yesterday news broke that Everlane was sold for $100m to Shein.

(Deep breath now.)

Everlane is the social responsibility focused basics label that hit cult status in the 2010s. Until yesterday, it was owned by private equity firm L. Catterton, which is backed by fashion billionaire overlord Bernard Arnault and his LVMH conglomerate. Everlane was sold for $100 million, making M. Arnault and his private equity cronies a little bit richer. Good for them. Now spare a thought for the employees at Everlane this week, who must have feelings close to despair.

Everlane has been a mission-driven company, built on ethical practices, premium quality and radical transparency. It is therefore hard to imagine a more inappropriate bedfellow than ultra fast fashion giant Shein. On Everlane’s website it states: “We’re on a mission to clean up the industry. It’s a movement we’re calling Cleaner Fashion.” Not this week, it would seem. Everlane worked hard and built a solid reputation for being ‘a good guy’: it collaborated and invested in partnerships exploring new, less impactful business solutions, it openly shared factory locations and production costs, it committed to and was transparent about fair pricing, and it made long lasting wardrobe staples at affordable prices.

But the truth is Everlane has been struggling. Rising costs, an increasingly competitive landscape, and the fact that we consumers are not voting for the world we want with our dollars, means it was carrying $90m of debt. (I mean my God, how does that happen?).

And so in came Shein: the ultra fast fashion giant that produces 1 billion items per day, with around 450,000 available in real time. Over 99% of Shein’s emissions come from its supply chain, which has increased 170% in the last two years, “showing a tendency that indicates absolutely no interest in changing its model for the environment’s sake,” as Forbes reported.

Who’s the winner here?

Clue: it’s not us. It’s the owners of L.Catterton who get to right off the debt and pocket the change, and its the owners of the ultra fast fashion monster that wants to own the West’s rapacious capacity to buy disposable fashion as a sop to feeling good.

In buying Everlane, Shein gets IP, customer data, product preference data, geographic preference and pricing sensitivity data, market share, and credibility - all extremely valuable fodder for the Shein machine.

Who’s the loser?

Those toiling in the Shein supply chain (labour abuses), the planet, (polyester, emissions, transport, overproduction), and you and me (choice is diminished).

Once again, it looks like the rich are carving up all the juicy bits for themselves and don’t give a damn about what they burn down in the process.

But here’s the thing: Everlane was forced into sale by chronic debt. No doubt there was mismanagement, but consumers were not supporting a business that prioritised doing good in the world.

When will we learn that every time we swipe to purchase on Amazon, Jeff Bezos gets another dollar in his pocket? When we buy another one of those polyester bras from Shein, the Kardashians climb a little higher on the Rich List? When we hit Tiktok shop, another store closes its doors on the high street? When we buy a cheap China-made poly-blend shirts from M&S we vote for an outsourced supply chain, rather than a locally manufactured one, where the money stays in an economy that badly needs it?

Shopping is political. Remember that.

International fashion editors departed for LA last week on first class flights and a week of spoiling at the Chateau Marmont, all the better to enjoy the Dior Cruise show. Meanwhile Gucci took over New York and flew in those that were left over for a celeb-fuelled romp through Times Square.