2024 UPDATE: Does Everlane Live Up to Its Green Halo?

I confess, I started this piece with the intention to rip Everlane apart.

Aware of accusations surrounding its questionable labor practices and union-busting I had a preconceived bias that Everlane is probably just another greedy, greenwashing corporation.

True, the brand has been showered with praise recently — winning the Glossy Sustainable Brand Award for 2023 and scoring first place on the Remake Fashion Accountability report.

On the heels of these accolades, I thought it was time to take another look at Everlane … and what I found surprised me.

Let’s take a look into Everlane’s social, environmental, and (most interesting to us) chemical-safety practices.

Sustainable Practices at Everlane: What’s Working?

A small, but tested cleaner chemistry collection

Everlane reports that 78% of its virgin apparel materials are derived from fibers that “support lower toxicity inputs,” like certified organic or regenerative farming practices, plus fibers that naturally avoid the need for harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers, like European linen and hemp. 

But if you’re concerned about toxicity in your clothing, you should pay closer attention to the finish and dyes.

Everlane offers a small Cleaner Chemistry collection. At EcoCult, we consider Oeko-Tex and bluesign as credible labels for cleaner chemistry. Everlane includes bluesign in this collection, but it also includes GOTs and GRS-restricted-substance standards, which we do not recognize as effective chemical management criteria.

An interview with Everlane’s Director of Sustainability, Katina Boutis, clarified: Everlane has been partners with bluesign since 2018, undergoing two audits to assess chemistry risks across its product and supply chain and working to align its wet processors, dye houses, finishing facilities, and wash houses with the bluesign manufacturing restricted substances list. Everlane also adopted the AFIRM restricted substance list for finished product-level testing in its Cleaner Chemistry collection.

So while we don’t recommend GOTS by itself as a failsafe non-toxic certification, given Everlane’s several layers of testing and chemical safety, if you suffer from chemical sensitivities, we can recommend Everlane’s Cleaner Chemistry collection.

Sustainability initiatives

Since welcoming a new CEO in in late 2021, Everlane has pivoted away from short-lived trends associated with fast fashion and towards a “forever wardrobe” approach. In March this year, the brand introduced a collaboration with design duo Marques’ Almeida, featuring a limited-edition collection crafted entirely from surplus materials. (While a notable initiative, it’s worth pointing out that some of the collection includes non-recycled nylon, which is terrible for the planet.) Another long-standing highlight is Everlane’s ReNew collection, crafted from recycled fishing nets and plastic bottles. Plus, Everlane has shown a decrease in the percentage of fossil-fuel-based fabrics used in their material mixes.

More broadly, one of Everlane’s big goals is to achieve Net-Zero emissions by (or before) 2050 . ‘Net-Zero’ claims are controversial , often falling short and relying too much on carbon offsets that lead to greenwashing, without addressing these structural changes needed to reduce global carbon emissions. But Everlane has demonstrated a reduction in total greenhouse gasses and according to them, is committed to critical carbon reduction efforts without relying majorly on carbon offsets in its calculations. Still, we found language on its site saying it partners with Native to offset “unavoidable emissions.” When asked for clarification, Katina wrote by email that these are “supplemental efforts” Everlane supports for special projects and are not included in their carbon inventory.

Political engagement

Everlane has been part of some voluntary political pushes, supporting California’s first climate disclosure laws throughout the legislative process. The brand has also endorsed the New York Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act and the Fashioning Accountability and Building Real Institutional Change, or FABRIC Act . In my books, using your resources for political change is a great thing and can help create a better, more accountable fashion industry.

Some transparency in pricing and manufacturing

Once upon a time, Everlane was a stand-out leader in cost transparency for materials, labor, and shipping. Now, other companies like Eileen Fisher, Nudie Jeans, Harvest &Mill, and Timberland have started mapping their supply chains down to the farm, leaving Everlane behind.

While it discloses all its Tier 1 (cut-and-sew)  and Tier 2 (fabric mills, including wet processors) and has direct relationships with them, this is only part of the picture. The biggest environmental and social impact usually happens further upstream, especially during raw material production. Everlane acknowledges its biggest visibility gap is for Tier 3 suppliers and beyond. In 2023, it but faced technological and complexity challenges.

Considering its smaller size, Everlane is in a difficult position. It’s too large to rely solely on a few artisanal suppliers, but too small to exert big demands on its suppliers. So I’m going to call this as a commendable effort for Everlane.

A work in progress

Achieving big goals

In 2021, Everlane pledged to source 100% GOTS-certified organic cotton by 2023, but as of 2024, only over 75% of their cotton meets this standard. Unfortunately, the fashion industry is rife with fraudulent “organic cotton” making it difficult to trust even those numbers.

In 2018, the brand launched a “No New Plastic” campaign, aiming to eliminate all virgin plastic from its supply chain by 2021, including products and packaging. While it succeeded in removing virgin plastics from packaging in 2019 (which kind of feels like the bare minimum these days) — it has not been fully realized for its products. Consequently, Everlane has extended this no-plastic goal to 2025, currently achieving 98% of the target.

Limited wage transparency.

It’s excellent to get a sense of where your clothes are made and by whom. But at the end of the day, Everlane’s transparency is clouded. Everlane’s Vendor Code of Conduct only mandates paying at least the minimum wage or the appropriate prevailing wage, whichever is higher, rather than explicitly committing to  living wages.

On the topic of living wages, Everlane points to certifications like GOTS 7.0 ( which requires a living wage analysis) and states that it partners with Tier 1 factories  that have conducted independent living wage analyses or are affiliated with certifications that strive to achieve living wages (like Fair Wear Foundation and Fair Trade). While the facilities that conducted living wage work only represent about 16% of its factory matrix — Everlane is “eager to continue conversations” with suppliers in the “years ahead”. Everlane does not have any certifications like Fair Trade, SA8000, nor does it participate in the FLA (Fair Labor Association) to prove they are paying a living wage.

Is progress really enough?

No brand is perfect. When you buy a new item, you likely have to compromise on at least one area, usually either the environment or labor practices.

Everlane has made a lot of progress over the last four years, and that’s laudable.

While ranking first place on the Remake Fashion Accountability report is encouraging —  Remake would be the first to tell you the bar is low. The report also points out the overall stagnation and massive room for improvement needed in the industry.

And even though Everlane isn’t perfect, there’s real, encouraging signs. Everlane is helping make more sustainable, ethical fashion more mainstream, and in my opinion, that’s a good thing. So if you’re looking for some classic pieces for your wardrobe, we feel confident saying that you couldn’t do much better than Everlane.