Long have I lusted after Alexander Wang t-shirts, Equipment basics and other classic, minimal staples that make for a happy wardrobe. However, convincing myself that an $80 absolutely blank, basic t-shirt is a smart purchase is a battle I consistently lose.
But damn, I love minimalist fashion trends.
Yet, pulling off the minimalist looks requires clothes that make up for their lack of embellishment with quality materials, superb tailoring and balanced structure.
For a long time, it has been industry status quo that cheap brands make cheap basics, expensive brands make expensive basics. This thoroughly puzzled me at times. Why could I buy a shirt with embellishments and designs for a reasonable price but not a quality, basic t-shirt?
Enter, Everlane.
First, whoever runs their Facebook ad targeting did a wonderful job, because that’s how I first found Everlane. An ad with a classic face in a classic white T took me to their site. A minimalist web design with sleek UX and genuinely interesting factory stories in pair with tasteful basics sold me on this company. I have been a huge word-of-mouth supporter since, channeling my inner rage at paying $65 for a white James Perse tank into free advertising for this genius company.
I bestow the title of “genius” because Everlane is forward thinking from both an aesthetic and strategic perspective. Aesthetically, by fulfilling an everyday solution to emerging minimalist and classic design trends, and strategically, by addressing consumer desires for transparency and catering to a growing generation of fiscally prudent and culture-savvy digital buyers.
After the statement necklaces, jewel embellished dresses and gilded tops of post-recession fashion (an interesting cultural phenomenon wherein consumers chose to look and feel extravagant albeit with lower quality goods to combat waning economic times), the industry began to come down from their glitter highs and focus on essentialist design once again. Streamlined basics from H&M replaced busy Forever 21 tops, Zara’s sleek black outfits overcame over saturated online boutiques and minimalist looks continuously made waves at fashion week from 2012 onwards.
Sleek minimalism trickled down from high fashion and eroded away the gilded embellishments of the last decade. However, individualism and personal expression still reign in a culture of remixing, content creation and social sharing. What consumers really needed was a great blank canvas to start over with.
A blank canvas that could stand on its own as a feat of thoughtful essentialism but could also act as a building block to any amount of personal customizability. The elegant white t-shirt is like the clean linen towel we use after wiping away the glitter and paint from last decade’s party. We have gone back to basics, our old canvas too messy and torn for continued use, but saved remnants of the past to express who we are and who we have been with distinctive contrast against our new canvas.
We have so many stories and experiences from a former decade wrought with dynamic social and cultural shifts, that to express them all at once is exhausting and often counter intuitive. Putting one or two of those stories against a solid, safe white canvas makes us choose the essential things and tell the meaningful stories.
Enter, Everlane.
The one of a kind statement necklace we saved two weeks worth of paychecks for, the sequin loafers we use to spice up the walk to a new job or an oversized Fair Isle sweater purchased when attending college up north on a different coastline all are our personal statements made clear against a tasteful backdrop.