Ethical Alternatives to Everlane

Everlane is well known as a perennial favorite for chic basics and high-quality jeans. And if you're in the ethical fashion world, you may know Everlane as one of the first big brands to make serious attempts at sustainability and ethics in their products.

But how ethical is Everlane? While we applaud their efforts, we have some hesitations about calling Everlane a truly ethical brand. This article will review some of Everlane's sustainability practices and provide some similar style alternatives that are more ethical and sustainable. We'll dive into topics like:

• Is Everlane Ethical?
• Everlane Sustainability Statistics
• 5 Brands Similar to Everlane that are Ethical & Sustainable

Is Everlane Ethical? 

As we said above, Everlane truly has made some strides in becoming a more ethical brand. We appreciate their efforts in moving to more sustainable fabrics, cutting virgin plastics out of their supply chain, and publishing their final-stage factories.

But those who are looking into the details behind Everlane's sustainability claims are concerned that Everlane isn't quite matching up to their claims. A few of the problem areas:

Transparency: While Everlane is more transparent than most fast fashion brands, it seems they are selectively transparent about areas where they'll measure up. Posting photos and details of its factories is a good first step. But these details are only for final stage production, with little to no info about raw materials and second stage.

Lacking Info: Everlane does not confirm that the list of factories they feature on their website is their full list of factories. With this lacking info, it's impossible to confirm that that Everlane is living up to their standards across their supply chain. They also do not provide details on workers' wages or assurances and policies that workers are paid a living wage.

Everlane Sustainability Statistics

Everlane makes bold claims regarding their sustainability, but do their practices really add up? Here are a few of the concerns:

Cutting carbon emissions: Everlane claims they've set bold targets to reduce carbon and overall emissions. They have plenty of stats about their goals. These are commendable, but what they don't communicate is how they're doing in reaching these goals or what they plan to do to get there.

Sustainable fabrics: Everlane has taken aims at including more sustainable fabrics in their supply chain, but it seems like these are tokens. Organic cotton, recycled materials, etc. are used in a few products, but not widely across their supply chain.

Textile waste: Everlane doesn't communicate any plans or efforts to reduce textile waste. Textile waste is a massive blight on the fashion industry that any brand hoping to call themselves sustainable needs to address.

5 Brands Similar to Everlane That are Ethical & Sustainable

So, you want to cut down on Everlane in favor of brands that are totally above board? It's totally possible! There are companies like Everlane that are cutting down on waste and emissions, using sustainable fabrics across their product lines, and paying workers living wages. Here are five of them:

1. Ética

Even if you cut out Everlane, you've got great choices for jeans. Family-owned ÉTICA produces high-quality jeans that meet the highest levels of sustainability and ethics ( I mean, their name literally means ethical).

ÉTICA designs reduce water usage by 90%, energy consumption by 63%, and chemical usage by 70%. They use sustainable fabrics like tencel, natural mineral dyes, and recycled and biodegradable extras like hangtags and bags.

On the labor side, they exceed fair trade standards, providing workers with living wages, health benefits, on-staff doctors, and free meals. They offer truly radical transparency by disclosing their factory in Puebla, Mexico and they've got certifications to back up their claims, including the Re/Make Seal of Approval for Environment, Transparency, Labor Rights.

2. INDIGENOUS

A go-to for sustainable basics, INDIGENOUS truly goes above and beyond in the areas of environmental responsibility and labor ethics.

Fairly employing over 1,000 artisans in Peru, INDIGENOUS is serious about empowering their workers. They pay fair wages, give back to the community through clean drinking water, and even offer training and zero interest loans to female entrepreneurs. Pioneers in fair trade, INDIGENOUS is also a founding B Corp member, so they back up their claims with legitimate certifications.

On the environmental side, INDIGENOUS is also passionate about conservation. their clothes save over 13 million gallons of water annually and keep over 400 pounds of deadly pesticides off the land and 45,600 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air. Their clothes are toxin-free and organic, making them better for you and for the environment. 

3. Pistol Lake

For men's activewear and casual wear that's obsessed with doing things right, check out Pistol Lake. It's made by former tech guys, so they put all that attention to detail into designing the most sustainable, high-quality, long-lasting clothes on the market.

One of the main criticisms of Everlane is that they fail to use sustainable fabrics throughout their supply chain. This is where Pistol Lake kills it. They use recycled materials, organic cotton, eucalyptus, tencel, hemp, and more to keep their footprint light. They even have their own blend of recycled polyester, eucalyptus, and spandex that's sustainable as well as super soft, moisture-wicking, and odor-fighting. They use these fabrics throughout their supply chain—not just in a select few products.

Beyond their sustainable fabrics, Pistol Lake is killing it on clothes that are good for the environment, for workers, and for your health. They manufacture close to home to reduce their carbon footprint, go toxin-free, and proudly pay fair wages in safe work environments. 

4. Groceries Apparel

For timeless classics with a trendy flair, check out Groceries Apparel. Their men's and women's tees, leggings, and more are made by forward-thinking visionaries who are out to create sustainably, empower workers, and even fight food waste.

Groceries Apparel is another brand that's serious about sustainable fabrics. They use sustainable, recycled or GOTS certified organic cotton, recycled plastics, hemp, and more. They even dye their clothes with vegetable dyes from food waste like carrot tops, coffee grounds, and pomegranate.

They also work to make sure their workers are treated fairly. So much so that they own and operate their own factory in Los Angeles. They've got pictures of the factory on their website and they've even been known to give tours. Take about radical transparency!

5. DoneGood

OK, so DoneGood isn't exactly a brand. We're a marketplace where you can find dozens of brands that are better than Everlane—brands like all the ones above. When you shop DoneGood, you'll find thousands of products that were all made with free and fair labor and eco-friendly practices with slow fashion principles. 

We make sure our brands truly model radical transparency by disclosing sourcing, production, environmental practices and more. We make sure they're using sustainable materials and low or zero-waste production practices. Then, we make sure they've got ethical certifications like Fair Trade, B Corp, GOTS, Rainforest Alliance, FSC, Peta-approved vegan and more to back up their claims.

We're all about trying to make ethical shopping as convenient, affordable, and stress-free as possible! Check out our collection of women's, men's and kids' clothes for thousands of more ethical alternatives to Everlane! And find out more about us here!

We're grateful for the steps Everlane has taken to empower workers and take care of the planet. Little changes add up—especially for huge brands. They've got a ways to go and we hope they'll keep making changes.

But in the meantime, you can find alternatives to Everlane! Lots of brands out there are killing it when it comes to sustainability, worker empowerment and more. Check out the brands above who truly model radical transparency, and make sure you check out our collections to find even more!

 

If you want to check out more ethical alternatives to big corporations, check out our alternative series!