Everlane 2.0: San Francisco Clothing Brand Introduces New Fashion Strategy and New Creative Director

Everlane gets a makeover.

Almost a year after joining the San Francisco-based sustainable staples brand, direct to consumer, Chief Executive Officer Andrea O'Donnell spoke to WWD exclusively about her strategy and flag planting at New York Fashion Week.

The new direction is to inject more fashion into the product assortment through whimsy, color and printing; take a collection approach rather than individual items; intensifying brand storytelling and increasing distribution through wholesale for the first time.

O'Donnell was formerly President of Fashion Lifestyle at Deckers Brands, where she transformed Ugg, a wholesaler brand, from a sleepy cold-weather boot company and fashion star to buzzing designer collaborations and influencer campaigns featuring Telfar, Molly Goddard, DJ Peggy Gou and the late fashion editor André Leon Talley, among others.

Related Galleries

To help bring fashion credibility to Everlane, she's hired a new global creative director , Mathilde Mader, Central Saint Martins graduate who worked with Kim Jones during the formative years of her eponymous label, as well as Vanessa Bruno, Sonia Rykiel, Marni, Mulberry and By Malene Birger.

Mader joins global brand creative director Shu Hung, the former creative director of Uniqlo, who oversees the Los Angeles design office opened last January, where the e-commerce studio is located.

O'Donnell and his creative directors will land in New York on Wednesday, hosting a dinner party the day before the New York Fashion Week, to celebrate the new Everlane Editions Power of 10 capsule collection of wardrobe essentials. Michael Preysman, founder of Everlane, Natalie Massenet, board member and investor, and Ella Emhoff are among those expected.

"New York is our opportunity to re-engage the press and key buyers," O'Donnell said during an interview at the San Francisco headquarters, where the brand's promise of "radical transparency" extends to the open floor plan. Even the CEO doesn't have an office.

"We introduce the idea of ​​an eternal wardrobe, and associating it with the fact that people only wear 10% of the clothes in their wardrobe, so if that's the 10% you keep coming back to over and over again, what would those pieces be?"

An 80s oversized blazer in blue and brown houndstooth, a loose collared sweater rolled up recycled cashmere and a pair of Way High draped corduroy pants, maybe, or Way High sailor jeans, the perfect square stripe oxford shirt and a gathered houndstooth trench coat , all at prices reaching $288.