Still Radical: Another Fast Idea in Pursuit of Slow Fashion

I didn’t shop online much in the twenty-teens. Mostly because I couldn’t imagine spending a single extra dollar of my limited funds on shipping, but also because it was a time where in-person shopping was genuinely more satisfying compared to today. One store that was only available to me online was, however, Everlane. Offering only basics, it felt like American Apparel for grownups. Something about the branding, the simplicity of the designs, and the elevated-yet-accessible everydayness of the styling immediately drew me to Everlane. And it’s reflected in many of the pieces that I make and wear every day. 

Many women talk about how they dream of having a capsule wardrobe, achieving a type of closet where you can blindly pick a top and bottoms and they just work. And to me, Everlane offered just that–frictionless dressing for the young professional. Pre cool-girl, pre clean-girl, pre whateverthefuckaesthetic, I knew Everlane was offering something special (yet also completely un-special) to a market that was soon going to accept it with open arms.

I’m not sure if I can credit Everlane for turning me on to sustainable fashion, but I do know that it wasn’t the sustainable messaging that got me interested in the brand. Instead, by design, it was the clothes that hooked me, and only after I was securely aligned with the brand did the sustainable messaging permeate my consciousness in a steady drip. 

Through the years and up until I was making clothes more consistently for myself, I would stalk Everlane’s website and email marketing for the chance to snag something on sale. In the earlier days, they would make things in very small batches and then aggressively mark down pieces that weren’t selling. They even had “choose what you pay” tiers for certain items to help move product. Both approaches are cornerstones of sustainable fashion business practices. While made-to-order is ideal, making things in small batches that won’t greatly exceed consumer demand is still a solid sales model. 

Fast forward to the last handful of years and Everlane still has sales, but not in a EVERYTHING MUST GO way. It’s clear they can take the L, and they’d rather have deadstock than “devalue” their inventory with extra-low prices (I assume). For years, I watched in great amusement as their product cycles grew shorter and shorter, releases became more frequent, and product lines expanded regularly. At the same time, the growth was accompanied by polished and convincing sustainability reports (here’s the one for 2025) that promised the company was as on-track as ever to achieve zero emissions, a circular product lifecycle, and world peace.

Then they sold to Shein.

In case you didn’t know, Shein is the antithesis to sustainability, not just in fashion but also in general business practice. It’s also the same company that began to thrive while Everlane began to suffer. This is not a coincidence. 

It all started in 2020. Waitingafuckingsecondforanything was OUT, and gettingwhateverthefuckyouwanted was IN IN IN. And that went for anything from batteries to cow print boxer shorts. At the same time, fashion trends were cycling through as fast as you could scroll TikTok. I’m not sure if Shein fed the machine or created the machine, but they became the clear winner of the grand prize of market domination while brands like Everlane felt suddenly slow, outdated, and the opposite of dopamine dressing.

After a hard year and sweeping layoffs in 2020, Everlane’s founder, Michael Preysman, felt like it was time to step down as Everlane’s CEO in 2021. Shortly after, in 2024, he left the company entirely telling Vogue he “didn’t see the company heading in a way that reflected the original vision.” What he does next is both shocking and amusing: He starts an electrolyte beverage brand called Magna. Not to be confused with MAGA, a popular saying of idiots, or Manga, which are Japanese graphic novels. In case you were wondering. 

Was this Michael’s dream all along, and Everlane just a profitable distraction? Maybe, but probably not. When asked about the founding of Magna in 2024, he tells The New Consumer “if you look up any nutrient or mineral, magnesium is the most-searched on Google. Above everything.” What Everlane and Magna have in common is not an undying passion for an industry or product that motivates Michael, but the promise of profit. His roots, after all, are neither in fashion nor electrolytes, but finance. Wondering what to sell if you want to rake in the dough? Just Google whatever’s trending on Google! 

In a society that values money above all else, I don’t think Michael’s business motivations are odd or surprising or “bad.” Passion and profit can coexist, and I hope that alignment happens for myself one day. What interests me about Michael is his rhetoric around Everlane’s sale to Shein, and what he did next. 

When sustainability interests took a nosedive in 2020, Everlane quickly lost its footing in the market. Michael tells Vogue “it felt like that movement had sort of dissipated in its own way,” the movement in question being sustainability (?!). Instead of a proposed “lack of product-market fit”, it begs the question: Was the customer really lost, or were their heads just turned? Back to my early days of being an Everlane customer and fan, it wasn’t the sustainability marketing that pulled me in, but it was the longest-lasting impression the brand left me with. I have to wonder, if infinite profitability wasn’t the goal, maybe Everlane could have scaled back and recentered.

Today, in mid-2026, sustainable fashion is trending once again. Natural fibers, DIYs, thrifting, clothing rentals, and even sewing and mending are all gaining popularity. A large portion of the internet seemed genuinely disappointed in losing a sustainable fashion brand to Shein. And after news broke of the sale, who do we hear from? Michael Preysman, Everlane’s founder. He’s ready to do it again, and do it right. Enter: Still Radical, Michael’s next and brightest idea that he thought up in a weekend whilst meditating. 

In his interview with Vogue, Michael breaks the news to the world: “[Still Radical is] bringing back the vision of Everlane but with a new take that meets the moment.” On the website is a brief note, reading:

I started Everlane in 2011. Last week, the current management team sold it to Shein.

So we’re starting over.

Same principles, but a new take. And this time: no venture capital, no private equity.

Sign up is required.

I’ll email you.

- Michael Preysman, founder of Everlane

In the time I have written this article, signups for his new venture have increased by nearly 20,000 with more flooding in by the second. The website features a plain, black circle favicon that’s reminiscent of the black squares people posted on their Instagrams during the BLM hay-days: Wholly symbolic of the idea of activism. The public outcry over Shein acquiring a sustainable fashion landmark was loud, and Michael heard. And everyone knows the only way you can solve one of the world’s most pressing environmental issues is with–you guessed it–more products.

Capitalizing on internet buzz is easy. Creating a clothing brand that sources sustainable natural fibers, pays workers fairly, minimizes material and water waste while still making a profit large enough to satisfy the likes of Michael Preysman is really, really hard. He who abandoned his sinking ship at the first sight of a flood to pursue drinkable magnesium is not likely to deliver all of this and more. 

As a few insightful articles covering the Everlane sale to Shein have noted, we can never look to a brand to save us or the environment. Their job is to sell, and we decide what and how to buy. I know Everlane fans are mourning, but I’m highly doubtful that Michael Preysman will be our next sustainable fashion north star. In short, you cannot take fast action to achieve sustainable fashion.