Everlane Founder Michael Preysman is Pushing for ‘Radical Transparency’ in Fashion

Photo: Michael Nagle via: The New York Times

Michael Preysman is the founder and executive chair of the sustainable clothing brand Everlane. He started the brand with the aim to create a direct to consumer model of brand transparency with ethical practices. The brand focuses on keeping their prices relatively low while also giving consumers high quality garments and accessories. Preysman has used many marketing factors such as social media and other digital means to promote his brand and go straight to consumers about Everlane’s practices.

A Photo of Everlane’s Staff Photo: Stephen Shore via: Vogue

Everlane was founded three years after Preysman graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a degree in engineering and economics. After his graduation, he immediately joined the workforce in private equity for three years. Before Everlane, Preysman did not have any experience in the industry, but he had an idea and went for it. After leaving private equity, he founded the brand in November 2011 in San Francisco. The brand's first collection was simple t - shirts that were sold at less expensive prices than its competitors.

Photo: Everlane via: The Green Hub 

Additionally, Everlane brought something different to the table in the fashion industry because of their strong goal of transparency with consumers. Everlane outlines how much a garment costs to make compared to Everlane’s prices and their competitors' prices. The website also outlines what particular materials a garment is made out of, where it came from and its effects on the environment compared to other materials. The brand is still making sustainable changes with their products even today. The brand's website offers consumers a look at their annual ‘Impact Report’ so consumers can see how they have impacted the planet every year. The brand has several material certifications under its belt and has created new sustainable materials to lower its carbon footprint. 

Everlane Fall Capsule Wardrobe Campaign Photo: Everlane via: Glamour

In an interview with Interview Magazine, Preysman said, “...And so for me it was like, ‘I’m leaving a job, what am I going to do, I’m going to go try to start something.’ And I really saw this opportunity at the time, not just a fashion brand, but an idea that online retail, or just retail in general, is so broken. There have been so many industries that have been transformed over the past 10 years…I think it hasn’t done that much on the fashion or design side of the world…,” he said. “That was what we started with, and it took us a year to get to launching our first set of products and figuring out that that was the right thing to do: to try to build a brand online only, without any of the traditional costs of retail; and one that sort of pushes forward this idea of minimalism and transparency in a way that I don’t think others are doing right now…”

Photo: Everlane via: CNN

Even before sustainability became a trend within the industry, Preysman was already thinking about transparency with consumers and ethical materials. He did not know it at the time, but he was ahead of the industry and was actively changing it on its head. His efforts have worked; Everlane is a brand that is worth more than $200 million and has multiple stores across the US. Preysman has been recognized for his work with Everlane. He was on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list for changing the industry and e - commerce with the brand and the brand is one of the most popular sustainable fashion brands out right now.