Everlane To Debut New Sneaker Label

With the goal of being better for the planet than the rest of the sneaker industry, Everlane is rolling out a sneaker label called Thread. The shoe comes with leather the company says is made at a factory with less impact on the environment than typical manufacturers along with a sole that is mainly free of plastic that is unrecycled plastic, Bloomberg reported.

Everlane Founder and Chief Executive Michael Preysman said, according to a report, “There’s a set of customers that want a great sneaker, but don’t necessarily fit in.” Preysman said, “The problem with sneaker culture is there’s a lot of waste, and it’s disposable.”

The shoes took two years to design and will reportedly be carbon-neutral. At the same time, Preysman says the foray into sneakers “completes the American uniform.” It comes amid the jeans and T-shirts the company sells. The first shoe, a leather trainer, will be in understated colors such as grey, navy and off-white. They will reportedly be available at the end of April online and in the company’s stores.

Everlane created its first buzz as a direct-to-consumer (DTC) fashion brand through the idea of “radical transparency” with its shoppers, which has evolved some over time. The company began with pricing so shoppers know how much of the price is a mark. That came to grow to the production line of Everlane by offering data on the environmental impact of each piece of apparel. Preysman told Glossy in December that the goal is to be as transparent as they possibly can.

“Where we’re not transparent is that we don’t share our Italian factory names, because if someone came in and took those factories, they could completely wipe us out,” Preysman said. Last year was a busy one in the books for the company, which opened a store in San Francisco and New York. It also rolled out an intimate apparel line and vowed to grow its green business practices by taking out virgin plastic from its supply chain over the years to come.