Using radical supply chain transparency to guide its ‘anti-fast fashion’ business model, Kim Smith, Everlane’s head of apparel gave John Mowbray an insight into how the US retailer works.

We first came across Everlane around eight years ago when our mothballed sister publication The Apparel Analyst ran a short story on the new direct-to-consumer clothing business – and since then we’ve followed its progress with a great deal of interest.

For many people in our industry the US retailer, which launched in 2010, has slipped under the radar even though its sales quietly climbed to a reported US$100 million in revenue in 2016, according to Privco, a firm that analyses private companies.

What interested The Apparel Analyst back then was how Everlane’s business model was based on supply chain transparency and it still remains ‘anti-fast fashion’ to this day, at a time when online fast fashion brands of a similar age, such as Missguided from the UK, are realising annual sales of £216 million (US$287 M).