It's the Brian Lair Show. I'm producer Amina Serna filling in for Brian today. Good morning again, everyone.

This week, millennial women got some news that might have felt a lot like a betrayal to some.

If you came of age in the 2010s, you probably know the Everlane look.

The kick-croped jeans, almond-toe loafers, the perfect crue neck.

It was a sort of unofficial uniform of the upwardly mobile millennial, and the best part

was that it was all ethically made, or at least it was supposed to be. Everlane built its name on what

it called, quote, radical transparency, telling you exactly where your shirt was made and what it

costs to produce.

Shopping at Everlane allowed you to vote for your values with your dollars. If you cared about

labor rights and sustainability, you could support those causes without compromising sheikness.

So imagine the shock of some consumers when the news broke that Everlane had been acquired by Sheehan,

the fast fashion giant that Everlane was basically founded to be the opposite of.

And we've got breaking news during the show that that deal has been finalized at an undisclosed price over $100 million.

So how do we get here?

And what happens when the poster child of sustainable fashion runs off with its arch nemesis?

With me now to discuss is Elizabeth Klein, author of the books overdressed the shockingly high cost of cheap fashion and the conscious closet.

Her piece in the Atlantic is titled Everlane, Sheehan, and the Limits of the Ethical Consumer.

Elizabeth, welcome back to WMIC.

Thank you so much for having me on.

So let's go back to the 2010s for listeners who aren't familiar.

What was Everlane and what made it feel so different at the time?

Yeah, so Everlane was really kind of representative of this moment in the early 2010s when sustainable fashion had this palpable momentum.

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