Photo: Ben Gabbe/Getty Images for Parsons
Sounds like Everlane’s founder, Michael Preysman, was just as shocked about its sale to Shein as the rest of us. The millennial fashion label, initially known for its transparent pricing and earnest efforts to reduce fashion’s environmental impact, had been struggling for years before Shein stepped in this month to acquire it. Not much is known about the ultra-fast-fashion juggernaut’s plans for the website. But given Shein’s reputation for pumping out cheap trends, Everlane’s once loyal audience is feeling betrayed and disillusioned. Now, Preysman says he has something to offer them.
In a new interview with Puck, Preysman said he didn’t know about the Shein deal until about 20 minutes before Puck reported it a week ago, and the reaction online “hit me hard.” Preysman was no longer in charge of the company he founded when he was 25 years old. In 2020, after employees accused Everlane of using the pandemic as an excuse to thwart the formation of a union, he sold a majority stake to L Catterton, the private equity firm backed by LVMH and the family office of its chairman, Bernard Arnault. In 2021, Preysman stepped down as CEO and launched a magnesium sports beverage brand. Last year, he also stepped down from Everlane’s board of directors.
“At that time, I didn’t see the company heading in a way that reflected the original vision,” he said in a separate interview with Vogue, where he described the Shein deal as “stranger than fiction” and something he never imagined for the brand. “I felt let down by Everlane, but also like I let people down.”
Since the sale, former Everlane die-hards have speculated that the brand’s virtuous mission was just another marketing ploy — albeit an extremely effective one. But Preysman is convinced that Everlane’s original mission can still work. “I really believe it’s possible to be transparent, sustainable, and run a good business,” he told Vogue. “The part about Everlane that wasn’t working was not the sustainability part.”
Instead, he blames the product design and marketing, which he believes he can fix with a new project. On Tuesday, he released a website called stillradical.com, where he asked for sign-ups for anyone interested in what sounds like an Everlane 2.0: “Same principles, but a new take. And this time: no venture capital, no private equity.” He is in the very early stages of figuring out what this new fashion business will look like, including its name, but said that it was prompted by the emotional online responses to Everlane’s sale. “Seeing the kind of visceral [negative] reactions people had to this news gives some hope that many people still care,” he said. But will they care enough to stop shopping at Quince?
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