Five years after Everlane founder and CEO Michael Preysman declared that he would rather shut down his company than open a store, some 75 people are lining up outside of a minimalist glass storefront in Manhattan’s fashionable Nolita neighborhood. Inside, stacked on blond wood shelves against austere white walls, sit the unassuming objects of their desire: affordable, high-quality basics—$100 cashmere sweaters, $15 pima cotton T-shirts, $65 Japanese denim jeans. Most Everlane product launches these days are met by waiting customers, and the company’s inaugural store opening, on a brisk Saturday morning in December, is no exception.
“We’ve realized that there is much more to do to spread the [Everlane] story,” says Preysman, who plans to roll out additional brick-and-mortar outposts around the country in 2018, beginning this spring in San Francisco. “[It] requires more than an online click.” Since launching the company in 2011 as a direct-to-consumer clothing brand committed to “radical transparency,” Preysman and his team have been strategically expanding its scope. Defying the reign of fast-fashion heavyweights like Zara and H&M, Everlane has used its website and social media handles to offer customers a glimpse into its factories around the world, give voice to the workers making its garments, and share a price breakdown of each product it sells. Shoppers can see that Everlane’s original $15 American-made tee costs $6.50 to produce—and that the company’s markup is significantly less than the $45 that traditional designer brands tack on.
Today, Everlane is ramping up production, making everything from leather bags to sneakers to puffer coats, and dropping an average of six new items into its lineup each month. Some 44,000 people joined the waiting list for a new line of denim in September. The company has shipped products to more than a million customers, including celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Karlie Kloss, and Meghan Markle, who’ve been spotted with Everlane’s tote bags and loafers. And it’s profitable, according to the company, with sales doubling annually for the past three years. Everlane hit $100 million in revenue in 2016, according to Privco, a firm that analyzes private companies.
Everlane’s forthright messaging, coupled with its spare, fashion-forward aesthetic, has turned customers into emissaries—and inspired a slew of upstart fashion brands, such as shoemaker M.Gemi and technical clothier Aday. “Everlane provided a model for how to communicate that our quality is what we say it is,” says Scott Gabrielson, founder of accessories startup Oliver Cabell. Preysman is also pioneering new approaches to retailing, making use of steady product launches, waiting lists, and limited inventory to both predict and drive demand. “Everlane created a sense of urgency and exclusivity [around its products],” says Marshal Cohen, an analyst with market research firm NPD. That it’s done this for no-nonsense, long-lasting basics is all the more remarkable.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
