Everlane Closed on Black Friday

https://www.everlane.com/black-friday

by inmygarage • 14 years ago

143 37 14 years ago

jgrahamc• 14 years ago

This is cool, I suppose. But there's a big missed opportunity here: I have no idea what or who Everlane is and there's not even a link to an About page there.

bonyt• 14 years ago

Yeah, but now we're both /want/ to know what or who the heck Everlane is. I found their about page. https://www.everlane.com/about - plus they have a Join link in the corner.

untog• 14 years ago

Do we? I read it and immediately hit 'back'. There wasn't exactly anything too intrigue me there.

HyprMusic2• 14 years ago

Looks like they sell designer items at low cost: https://www.everlane.com/about

the_economist• 14 years ago

They are able to provide cheaper pricing by avoiding the costs associated with physical retail outlets. That is their pitch, anyway.

Everlane model: Cost to make shirt + profit for everlane + shipping -> total cost

Conventional clothing model: Cost to make shirt + profit for manufacturer + shipping + cost of operating retail outlet + profit for retail outlet -> total cost

They are still outsourcing their manufacturing so the above isn't completely accurate, but it's close.

This is the future of the clothing business and I for one am very happy about it.

larrys2• 14 years ago

"designer items"

"Designer clothes typically sell for 8 times what they cost to make. But it doesn't have to be this way. We've set out to challenge conventions and build a new retail model. We have no physical stores, no middlemen taking their cut and no crazy brand markups. Instead, we create our own luxury basics and sell them exclusively at everlane.com."

One thing this model is missing is that part of the reason designer goods cost more is because people are paying for the name as well as presumably better quality. To the point where people knock off designer goods and there is an entire IP infrastructure in place to police those brands.

So while this is pretending to be the "Louis CK" model of selling it's really not. First, they don't have a known "Louis CK" brand. 2nd removing the middleman only removes a part of the markup of a luxury brand.

This might be similar to someone offering to sell a Hyundai that performs on the same level as an equivalent Porsche or BMW but is a Hyundai. By "performs" I mean same quality of materials, same cornering, acceleration etc. (Let's suppose they could do that). What you would end up with is only part of the allure of the Porsche. The brand does mean something and that's part of what you are paying for. (In addition to the commission the dealer makes and the salesperson makes).

Part of the money that goes into a brand is what you are paying for when you buy the brand. If what they want to do is simply sell better quality goods and cut out the middleman that's fine. But they shouldn't dismiss the value (in some people's brains) of having a "brand" of anything and paying more for it either.

draggnar• 14 years ago

they should put an email capture to remind me to come back tomorrow

shiftpgdn• 14 years ago

Looks like it is there now.

someproduct• 14 years ago

HN links aside, you almost certainly wouldn't arrive at everlane.com without any context or understanding.

Most first-time visitors probably come from something social, and thus have a pretty good idea that Everlane is some kind of retail.

Knowing this, the folks at Everlane opted to optimize the band experience for registered users and those who haven't registered but are familiar with the company. This is a great example of leveraging a point-of-view into a statement about your brand, rather than watering-down the messaging to appeal to even the smallest subset of users.

ANTSANTS• 14 years ago

Agreed. I'd never heard of Everlane before, and now that they finally have my attention, I can't actually look at any of their products.

Leaving their product pages up and simply disabling purchasing would have been a better idea.

thenanyu3• 14 years ago

I added a small link to the about page - it's easy to miss but anyone who is looking for it should have no trouble.

cdcarter• 14 years ago

This is fantastic. I haven't picked anything up from Everlane in probably two months. Almost forgot about them. Now I'll be looking forward to when their site comes back online for me to make a choice or two tomorrow!

calinet6• 14 years ago

I think this is really cool from a business standpoint. It reinforces their image and generates more curiosity and long-term respect than a sale could ever do. This is slightly reminiscent of Patagonia's "Don't buy this jacket" ad that went out last year, which I also in large part respected as a marketing effort and culture statement.

With this message, the "Sign up" link is the most attractive thing on the page. I'm guessing they'll get more press and more signups today than otherwise, and those organic signups will generate sales from e-mail campaigns. Really smart.

thechut• 14 years ago

There model sounds very familiar to the From Holden KS campaign we saw recently. Interesting marketing move though, I guess they probably aren't missing too much since there are so many retailers competing to be in the fray today.

nhebb• 14 years ago

Nice PR move. I have no reason to doubt their sincerity, but I had never heard of them before and this put them on my radar. As a consumer, their business model looks compelling - https://www.everlane.com/how

MatiasPenas-_-• 14 years ago

If you want to know more about everlane check the TWiST #253. Interview with Michael Preysman of Everlane http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6kvIPiez54

weisser• 14 years ago

Brilliant. This gets people talking and wondering what Everlane is.

I'm not someone that cares about a brand but I am someone who cares about quality to a somewhat obsessive level. I love my Everlane shirts and the backback I got from them is rugged and comfortable with just the right amount of pockets and storage. When I return to SF in February I would really like to visit their office and learn more about the company.

thenanyu3• 14 years ago

This is Nan, I'm an engineer @everlane. Stop by any time you are in town, and I would love to have coffee.

famousactress• 14 years ago

Whoops, blunder. The move piqued my curiosity, I signed up.. got a 'confirm email address' email, but the confirm link was redirected to the anti-black-friday page...

nsmartt• 14 years ago

The same happened to me, but the "join now" link was gone, suggesting it worked.

jkaljundi• 14 years ago

Great marketing tactic to get people to buy and consume more later on.

benwerd• 14 years ago

I agree with the sentiment on Black Friday, and I generally like Everlane (their t-shirts are genuinely fantastic, to the point that I'd be happy never buying any other t-shirt again), but there's something about the way this is presented that sticks in my mouth. Feels a bit self-righteous, I guess.

ianstallings• 14 years ago

PR Achievement Unlocked!

creativityland• 14 years ago

Have had a pleasant experience shopping there in the past. Above average quality for the price but very limited selection and styles even.

vostrocity2• 14 years ago

Everyone is talking about PR yet no one has mentioned our problem with consumerism. See the #buynothing campaign if you haven't. It's an interesting perspective:

http://www.storyofstuff.org/blackfriday/

I pledge to skip the mall and stay home with friends and family this Black Friday. Instead of spending money on things I don't need, I will spend my time with the people that I love.

dmor• 14 years ago

Will be a great way to explain why their graph didn't have a crazy holiday spike... but feels like a missed opportunity to me, since they aren't collecting emails or doing much to market the bigger idea behind Everlane on this page. People are fickle, at least capture enough info to get them to come back.

bradrydzewski• 14 years ago

I like that when you "view source" they have their logo in ascii art with the following "work at everlane - bmFuQGV2ZXJsYW5lLmNvbQ==" ... if you base64 decode the string you get someone's email address

Everlane Closed on Black Friday

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