Everlane T-shirts

[noobedloser]



Hey guys, I have been away from the forum for a while, but I hung out with LAGuy the other day so hopped on to see what's up.

It seems that the general impression is that we have been pretty hit-and-miss with our pattern-making. I think that's a very fair criticism and something we are working very hard on to fix right now. If anyone cares about my honest opinion, here's my personal review of our product mix:

Knits, sweaters

Probably our strongest apparel category for men, we have a good presence in the LA garment district and a knit specialist on staff in the company so I have no problem recommending our jersey and knit pieces all around.

I personally buy every style that we make.


Oxford Shirts

I like our old fit better. You can buy the deadstock here:
https://www.everlane.com/collections/mens-shirt-shop/products/mens-oxford-lightblue

It's very styleforum-friendly: high armholes, slim sleeves, medium sized collar


Bags

If you like the styling on out weekenders and backpacks, it's probably the best bang-for-buck game in town


Outerwear, Blazer, Jackets etc

The anorak is a great piece to layer on top of whatever you happen to be wearing. It's slightly oversized so if you buy your normal size you'll be able to fit a blazer under it.

The bomber has fit problems, I also think the merino blazer is about 1-2 inches too cropped.


Swim Short

This product actually offers a lot of value. The fabric is very expensive and the workmanship is really nice. Problem is... no one cares. It's a fail of product marketing because the price doesn't make any sense in our lineup.

We are about to put a lot of resources into men's and I'll try to keep you guys updated on the progress. Thanks for everyone's comments. If you are ever not satisfied with a product, we have a 90-day return policy with basically no rules. Just don't go for a swim and decide to return the swim shorts.

Great update and feedback and glad to see you are actually working for Everlane still! When I saw the swim shorts on the waitlist, I was really excited by it but was discouraged when I saw the price of it just for some swim shorts.

 

[mbrokerny]

Thanks for the update.

If you are ever not satisfied with a product, we have a 90-day return policy with basically no rules. Just don't go for a swim and decide to return the swim shorts.

I actually just returned the Marled sweatshirt. The quality and material was great, but the neck opening was just too big and it made it look very feminine. It would have been the perfect sweatshirt had the opening been a bit smaller.

I was charged $5 for a return label fee, is that something new?

 

[Bam!ChairDance]

I really like my swim shorts! I do hope you bring them back. Otherwise, if a shark steals my pair or they get caught on an urchin, all is lost. Price-wise they're really not bad, about $10- $20 less than J Crew.

And I agree that the sweaters are Everlane's strongest men's offering, in particular the cashmere ones from last autumn.

One thing I hope you guys keep exploring is more exciting, more lux offerings for the fellas. I noticed the design folks have been getting more experimental with the women's section but, when it comes to menswear, have remained more cautious. Maybe as Everlane's cash pile grows and smaller production runs make more sense (armchair consultant alert), you all can pump out some truly unique pieces and bring the company to its full "luxury brand killer" potential.

At the moment, though, it seems the brand is still hesitant to go all out when it comes to design and quality. I have been bummed to see you use things like plastic buttons when higher quality alternatives are available. But I know you all mean well, and hopefully things will keep changing for the better.

 

[JanC]

^Agreed

I was excited for the anorak when it was announced but the design is too bland for me.

Also, will the Smoke colored shirts be available again?

 

[stu00a]

^Agreed

I was excited for the anorak when it was announced but the design is too bland for me.

Also, will the Smoke colored shirts be available again?

I would like to know this as well.

 

[thenanyu]



Swim suit looks nice. Any chance of it in something like a light blue?

Dark colors like that just highlight how pale us Nordic white folk are !

Probably not, we are focusing on retooling all our men's products so color expansion is halting for the time being.

Great update and feedback and glad to see you are actually working for Everlane still! When I saw the swim shorts on the waitlist, I was really excited by it but was discouraged when I saw the price of it just for some swim shorts.

Glad to be back - hopefully we will do some projects with Styleforum in the future.

Thanks for the update.
I actually just returned the Marled sweatshirt. The quality and material was great, but the neck opening was just too big and it made it look very feminine. It would have been the perfect sweatshirt had the opening been a bit smaller.

I was charged $5 for a return label fee, is that something new?

This is normal, but we give free returns on your first order, so if you haven't seen it in that past, maybe that's why. If you have an order number, I can take a look at it.

I really like my swim shorts! I do hope you bring them back. Otherwise, if a shark steals my pair or they get caught on an urchin, all is lost. Price-wise they're really not bad, about $10- $20 less than J Crew.

And I agree that the sweaters are Everlane's strongest men's offering, in particular the cashmere ones from last autumn.

One thing I hope you guys keep exploring is more exciting, more lux offerings for the fellas. I noticed the design folks have been getting more experimental with the women's section but, when it comes to menswear, have remained more cautious. Maybe as Everlane's cash pile grows and smaller production runs make more sense (armchair consultant alert), you all can pump out some truly unique pieces and bring the company to its full "luxury brand killer" potential.

At the moment, though, it seems the brand is still hesitant to go all out when it comes to design and quality. I have been bummed to see you use things like plastic buttons when higher quality alternatives are available. But I know you all mean well, and hopefully things will keep changing for the better.

Volumes for our women's business have been much higher than men's, which is why we've focused mainly on that side of the world up until now. We have to retool our men's product from almost the ground up in a lot of cases, and hopefully we come up with something that's easy to understand, provides really great value and is easy to comparison shop against.

I'd love for us to do like a simple macintosh style coat or unlined flannel blazer for ~$150, something like what you would find at a brand like Aspesi or Polo for 1/3 the price.

^Agreed

I was excited for the anorak when it was announced but the design is too bland for me.

Also, will the Smoke colored shirts be available again?

The annorak has some nice details, I especially like the combo flap / slash pocket. I think it doesn't photograph well.

We have really limited sizes and availability in the deadstock smoke oxford, but I think you can get them here
https://www.everlane.com/collections/limited-product-collection/products/mens-oxford-smoke

 

[Bam!ChairDance]



.
I'd love for us to do like a simple macintosh style coat or unlined flannel blazer for ~$150, something like what you would find at a brand like Aspesi or Polo for 1/3 the price.

A flannel blazer sounds great. It's interesting that you mention Polo as a comparison brand. Why not aim higher, like Marni or Jil? Menswear is growing mad fast, and there has to be a sizeable market willing to pay a couple hundred for something that usually retails over 1k.

 

[notwithit]



Hey guys, I have been away from the forum for a while, but I hung out with LAGuy the other day so hopped on to see what's up.

It seems that the general impression is that we have been pretty hit-and-miss with our pattern-making. I think that's a very fair criticism and something we are working very hard on to fix right now. If anyone cares about my honest opinion, here's my personal review of our product mix:

Knits, sweaters

Probably our strongest apparel category for men, we have a good presence in the LA garment district and a knit specialist on staff in the company so I have no problem recommending our jersey and knit pieces all around.

I personally buy every style that we make.


Oxford Shirts

I like our old fit better. You can buy the deadstock here:
https://www.everlane.com/collections/mens-shirt-shop/products/mens-oxford-lightblue

It's very styleforum-friendly: high armholes, slim sleeves, medium sized collar


Bags

If you like the styling on out weekenders and backpacks, it's probably the best bang-for-buck game in town


Outerwear, Blazer, Jackets etc

The anorak is a great piece to layer on top of whatever you happen to be wearing. It's slightly oversized so if you buy your normal size you'll be able to fit a blazer under it.

The bomber has fit problems, I also think the merino blazer is about 1-2 inches too cropped.


Swim Short

This product actually offers a lot of value. The fabric is very expensive and the workmanship is really nice. Problem is... no one cares. It's a fail of product marketing because the price doesn't make any sense in our lineup.

We are about to put a lot of resources into men's and I'll try to keep you guys updated on the progress. Thanks for everyone's comments. If you are ever not satisfied with a product, we have a 90-day return policy with basically no rules. Just don't go for a swim and decide to return the swim shorts.

Great to hear your candid opinion on this stuff. I wrote a fairly lengthy (possibly excessive) response to a survey that went out to people who signed up for early access to the knit blazer but didn't buy one. My primary concern was how cropped it was. It would be great to see a version that's still ventless but has an extra inch or two in length.

Thanks for the update.
I actually just returned the Marled sweatshirt. The quality and material was great, but the neck opening was just too big and it made it look very feminine. It would have been the perfect sweatshirt had the opening been a bit smaller.

I was charged $5 for a return label fee, is that something new?

Interesting...where I come from, there's no such thing as a neck opening that's too big, and I usually stay away from pullover sweatshirts because I find the neck openings to be too small. I might have to check the marled sweatshirt out.

Probably not, we are focusing on retooling all our men's products so color expansion is halting for the time being.
Glad to be back - hopefully we will do some projects with Styleforum in the future.
This is normal, but we give free returns on your first order, so if you haven't seen it in that past, maybe that's why. If you have an order number, I can take a look at it.
Volumes for our women's business have been much higher than men's, which is why we've focused mainly on that side of the world up until now. We have to retool our men's product from almost the ground up in a lot of cases, and hopefully we come up with something that's easy to understand, provides really great value and is easy to comparison shop against.

I'd love for us to do like a simple macintosh style coat or unlined flannel blazer for ~$150, something like what you would find at a brand like Aspesi or Polo for 1/3 the price.
The annorak has some nice details, I especially like the combo flap / slash pocket. I think it doesn't photograph well.

We have really limited sizes and availability in the deadstock smoke oxford, but I think you can get them here
https://www.everlane.com/collections/limited-product-collection/products/mens-oxford-smoke

The smoke oxford in the older fit with higher armholes is one of my most-worn shirts for biz-caz occasions. I had to get it darted to deal with the hem flare (I get most of my shirts darted regardless), and I wouldn't mind a second button to make rolling the sleeves up easier, but overall it's just a great shirt.

 

[thenanyu]



Great update and feedback and glad to see you are actually working for Everlane still! When I saw the swim shorts on the waitlist, I was really excited by it but was discouraged when I saw the price of it just for some swim shorts.

Yeah you weren't the only one

A flannel blazer sounds great. It's interesting that you mention Polo as a comparison brand. Why not aim higher, like Marni or Jil? Menswear is growing mad fast, and there has to be a sizeable market willing to pay a couple hundred for something that usually retails over 1k.

We like RL as a comparison brand on the men's side because the pieces are usually very easy to "get". Our customer isn't the prototypical styleforum guy and he's a little bit afraid of stark minimalism, and pieces that are too trendy.

That said, I think Cucinelli is more our speed. This recent interview is a really good read and really aligns with a lot of the internal values we talk about at the company:
http://pi.co/brunello-cucinelli-2/

If you want to get an idea of what it's like here, Fader did a fairly extensive and balanced profile of us recently
http://www.thefader.com/2015/02/16/everlane-is-dressing-a-new-professional-class

 

[Rommel]

Have you managed to fix the collars on your tees? It seems like after just one wash they get floppy and twisted, happened with the pocket tees and u-necks that I have.

 

[Bam!ChairDance]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Yeah you weren't the only one
We like RL as a comparison brand on the men's side because the pieces are usually very easy to "get". Our customer isn't the prototypical styleforum guy and he's a little bit afraid of stark minimalism, and pieces that are too trendy.

That said, I think Cucinelli is more our speed. This recent interview is a really good read and really aligns with a lot of the internal values we talk about at the company:
http://pi.co/brunello-cucinelli-2/

If you want to get an idea of what it's like here, Fader did a fairly extensive and balanced profile of us recently
http://www.thefader.com/2015/02/16/everlane-is-dressing-a-new-professional-class

Gotcha. I read the Fader article a while back-- what caught my eye was, for how much we talk about minimalism as a 'fashion boi' thing or something that's inaccessable to the masses, it seems that's the direction the wardrobes of many "creative industry" folks are headed, albeit in a softer and more casual sense than what's on most runways.

Meanwhile, as Fuuma mentioned in the Random Fashion Thoughts thread maybe yesterday, the trend among fashion industry types is to avoid extreme statements and turn toward a more toned-down and sporty aesthetic (sweatshirts with overcoats, sweatpants, stan smiths, etc). So there's a convergence basically between the folks who just want to be 'fashionable' and those who breathe fashion through their skin.

Oh, and re: Polo-- I was mainly writing in terms of market positioning and quality. I'm much more excited about a brand that competes with Neimans than with Macy's, and it sounds like you guys feel the same way.
.

 

[Zassiliss]

For a while I completely forgot about this brand until I needed a cheap duffel for traveling--really cool to see some candid inside opinions on the fit and improvements in pattern cuts. Gonna try out the Anorak myself.

 

[thenanyu]



Have you managed to fix the collars on your tees? It seems like after just one wash they get floppy and twisted, happened with the pocket tees and u-necks that I have.

Yeah actually, we added a top-stitch to keep the collar flat, and we are exploring options to do a hidden stitch to maintain the old look and feel but resolve the problem. I think it might be mixed inventory right now in the warehouse for black and white but any new t-shirt colors should have the adjustments.

Gotcha. I read the Fader article a while back-- what caught my eye was, for how much we talk about minimalism as a 'fashion boi' thing or something that's inaccessable to the masses, it seems that's the direction the wardrobes of many "creative industry" folks are headed, albeit in a softer and more casual sense than what's on most runways.

Meanwhile, as Fuuma mentioned in the Random Fashion Thoughts thread maybe yesterday, the trend among fashion industry types is to avoid extreme statements and turn toward a more toned-down and sporty aesthetic (sweatshirts with overcoats, sweatpants, stan smiths, etc). So there's a convergence basically between the folks who just want to be 'fashionable' and those who breathe fashion through their skin.

Oh, and re: Polo-- I was mainly writing in terms of market positioning and quality. I'm much more excited about a brand that competes with Neimans than with Macy's, and it sounds like you guys feel the same way.
.

We do want to compete with the high-end, but being transparent about pricing makes it a rough marketing proposition sometimes. We try to keep very consistent margins across the entire offering so what ends up happening is we become very competitive on bags and shoes but some of the more technically sophisticated apparel ends up at a relatively higher price in comparison.

For a while I completely forgot about this brand until I needed a cheap duffel for traveling--really cool to see some candid inside opinions on the fit and improvements in pattern cuts. Gonna try out the Anorak myself.

Let me know how it goes with the anorak.

 

[Bam!ChairDance]



We do want to compete with the high-end, but being transparent about pricing makes it a rough marketing proposition sometimes. We try to keep very consistent margins across the entire offering so what ends up happening is we become very competitive on bags and shoes but some of the more technically sophisticated apparel ends up at a relatively higher price in comparison.

Do you mean the jackets and pants and stuff? Those still seemed to be priced pretty competitively.

And even if you do start making more technically involved products that end up costing more, won't the prices still be significantly less than their luxury brand counterparts? At that point, people like me will still be OK with forking over the money if the product looks dope. And for anyone who's cautious about spending more, couldn't you educate them on production processes the same way you always have?

 

[Zassiliss]

Received my anorak, here are my thoughts.

For $98, the price-point seems a bit high--both the design and the materials feel just one step up from something like Uniqlo (probably not true, but that's just my perception). I bought TTS, but the sleeves still feel a little short on me, which is something I wouldn't expect when the site says that going TTS would result in an over-sized fit.

I like the dual-function pockets though, and the midsection drawstring is a nice touch even though taking some of the material in meant that the zipper kept getting caught on them. The fact that the sleeves end in essentially a shirt cuff seemed like a strange choice, since it meant that there was a permanent hole where the cuff placket was. The hood has a decent shape as well, so no complaints there.

Haven't tried it in the rain just yet, but if you like how it looks on the site and want something fairly minimal, I'd say pull the trigger.