Everlane is being acquired by Shein, the fast-fashion company founded in China, according to a letter to employees that Everlane CEO Alfred Chang sent and that was obtained by The Associated Press. The announcement comes as Everlane has faced pressure in recent years, including controversies tied to its workers and questions from consumers about whether transparency and sustainability branding delivered enough value.
Chang, who became CEO in 2024, told employees that the partnership is designed to keep Everlane independent while providing “stability and resources” and allowing the company to invest more in product, innovation and staff, the AP reported. In the letter, he emphasized that Everlane would remain aligned with its “sustainability” commitments and that the company’s leadership would stay in place, with Chang continuing as CEO.
According to the AP, Everlane, based in San Francisco, did not disclose a purchase price. Shein declined to comment, and Everlane’s majority owner, L Catterton, could not be reached for comment, the AP reported.
The deal reflects a changing retail landscape for brands that positioned themselves against traditional fast fashion. Everlane had previously promised ethically sourced and sustainable clothing, and it highlighted regular audits of pay and working conditions as well as efforts to publicize the brand’s environmental impact. The company opened its first physical store in 2017 after being founded in 2011 by Michael Preysman and Jesse Farmer.
But in more recent years, Everlane has been caught in controversies about how it treats workers, media reports have said. Separately, independent retail analyst Bruce Winder said that even when Everlane and other eco-friendly brands offered a more transparent look at factories, consumers were not necessarily staying engaged—citing his view that price pressures also mattered, and describing how consumer interest for at least one of those brands faded over time.
Winder also pointed to a broader consumer shift toward affordability, and he cited the experience of Allbirds, which he said later rebranded itself as “NewBird AI” and shifted its focus to artificial intelligence and cloud-computing services after shoe sales declined. The AP reported that Winder’s comments included the idea that “the novelty wore off.”
Another analyst cited by the AP, Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, said Everlane’s condition has worsened financially. Saunders said sales are down and debt has mounted, and he described the need for new ownership as tied to survival. He also said Shein could use Everlane to build a presence beyond fast fashion as growth in the industry becomes more difficult.
Saunders linked those difficulties partly to trade barriers and tariff-related shifts that have affected imports of the inexpensive clothing that dominates fast fashion, the AP reported. He said Shein is unlikely to completely retool Everlane’s supply network, but he added that even a group association may feel “somewhat jarring” to Everlane’s “core” customers.
L Catterton, meanwhile, began acquiring significant stakes in Everlane in September 2020 and became its majority owner, the AP reported. Preysman stepped down in 2022. The AP said Shein was founded in 2012, has moved its headquarters to Singapore, and became extremely popular among teens and young shoppers, with many items produced in large volumes through factories in China.
In his memo, Chang addressed the reaction around the rumored deal before the confirmation, saying that “the past week has been a hard one” and that seeing the company in the media “in that light” was painful. The AP reported that Chang characterized the announcement as painful amid social media scrutiny.