In the millennial-optimism era of the 2010s, Obama was president, BuzzFeed was thriving, Rihanna was still releasing new music to our radio waves, and fashion was being reshaped by direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands that promised transparency, sustainability, and lower prices by cutting out traditional retail intermediaries.
It truly was a time. We were taking quizzes, listening to "Uptown Funk" unironically, buying Balm Dotcom from Glossier, and dying to snap photos in those baby-pink mirrors. And these new fashion-tech darlings like Everlane and Allbirds didn't just sell clothes, but the idea that fashion could be more ethical, more conscious, and maybe even a little less wasteful.
I'd be lying if I said I'm not a little nostalgic for it all, even if it was all just an illusion. Over the weekend, word hit our once-thriving Twitter (sorry, now X) feeds that Everlane, a brand that once promised fashion without the pretension and set ambitious net-zero goals, had reportedly been sold to SHEIN for $100 million. For many millennials, if reading the news on the AI-bot-infested app now owned by Elon Musk wasn't enough to shake the psyche, it felt like the death knell of an entire era.
Puck News, which first reported the story, said the deal was approved by Everlane's board on Saturday, according to a source with direct knowledge of the acquisition. The company was reportedly carrying roughly $90 million in debt before the sale. In an ironic and somewhat twisted turn of fate, the massive fast-fashion retailer SHEIN — the brand often synonymous with criticisms of our new era of mass waste — offered a lifeline.
Unsurprisingly, I can't seem to escape the chitters and chatters on my social media feeds filled with millennials. People are calling the deal "bleak," "disappointing," and the "final nail in the coffin" for millennial sustainability culture. Here are some of the reactions that sum up the conversation:
"IMO this Everlane acquisition by Shein is probably the final nail in the coffin for the niche optimism around good branding, values, and customer goodwill being enough to sustain a brand that was rampant in the 2010s."
"America in 2026."
"The millennial dream has turned to slop……."
"So disappointing."
"enshitification strikes again."
"everlane on instagram two days ago."
"the concept of a brand whose whole thing was sustainability and transparency selling itself to SHEIN."
And lastly: "Visiting San Francisco's brick and mortar Shein store today."
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