A deal between two seemingly incompatible clothing brands has sparked controversy, and it raises questions about the whole idea of what's known as sustainable fashion.

Our Liz Landers is back with more.

William, the Chinese fast fashion and low-cost giant Xi'an is often called the largest polluter in the industry.

It's riddled with controversies surrounding labor violations, design theft, and more.

Sheehan is now acquiring Everlane, a much-loved clothing brand known for what it called radical transparency.

The company had even gone so far as to tell consumers about the factory where its clothes were made and exactly what it cost to produce them.

For many customers, Everlane has been the face of a sustainable and ethical way to buy clothes online.

But that all may change with this deal.

For more, I'm joined now by Maxine Bedat, the founder and director of Sustainable Fashion Think Tank, New Standard Institute.

Maxine, thank you for joining us.

It's great to be here.

So earlier today, Vogue reported that Everlane's CEO, Alfred Chang, addressed this merger, and he said in a message to staff that, quote, will continue operating

independently with our design standards, brand philosophy, and values intact, and that this deal

gives them the, quote, stability and resources to make a larger impact. Is that really possible?

Do you believe him? I'm not sure what those vague terms mean.

I think if there was some clarity on what that meant, it would, you know, there would be more of a nail to hang on there.

But without that, it's really unclear.

Sheehan is a company that is known for its speed.

It's known for air freighting product, which is very high in emissions. So it's not clear to me how this sustainable company is going to do

emerging with, you know, what is seen as the biggest and baddest. Why do you think there's

been so much backlash to this deal?

I think people really wanted to believe in Everlane. I think this was part of that Obama-era

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