What’s On Our Radar: 05.22.26
Every other week, we share five links that made us think in our popular sustainable business briefing. Sign up here to get the next edition delivered straight to your inbox.
🛍️ Everlane is reportedly selling to Shein. The era of millennial optimism is officially over — Fast Company
In case you missed it (you probably didn't) — Shein bought "radical transparency" fashion brand Everlane this week in a deal brokered by private equity. It's a move that more than one LinkedIn commentator called a "gut punch" for how it so perfectly crystallizes the colliding forces of this particular moment with the kind of cruel irony that’s come to characterize 2026. There are enough hot takes to fill 10 newsletters; I appreciated this one from Elizabeth Segran (who's been reporting on Everlane since the early days) for its historical perspective and cultural commentary. Honorable mention goes to the responses from fellow ethical DTC entrepreneurs Shilpa Shah (Cuyana) and Maxine Bedat (Zady); Lutz Walter for brilliant macroeconomic analysis; and Shivam Gusain, who makes the counterargument that maybe we should actually be thanking Shein. (10 minutes)
😢 I believed sustainable fashion’s hype. But between Everlane and Allbirds, the letdowns keep coming — The Guardian
Consider this your companion read to the link above. Author and journalist Clare Press interviewed both the Everlane and Allbirds founders at their peaks, believed what they told her and is now reckoning with what their collapse means for the broader sustainable fashion movement (which also suffered the loss/restructures of Remake, Fashion Revolution and Centre for Sustainable Fashion this year). “Accept it: sustainability is not hot right now,” she writes. “The movement needs to get back to basics.” (6 minutes)
📊 Demystifying the 'Say-Do' Gap in Sustainable Product Purchases — Trellis
The "consumers say one thing and do another" complaint just got a bit less convincing. New NYU Stern data shows sustainability-marketed CPG products growing 4.9x faster than conventional products, but also a decline in consumers feeling that brands are engaging with them on sustainability. The culprit isn't hard to identify — we all know new regulations and political risk have pushed more and more brands into “greenhushing” territory — but this study puts some numbers on the cost of that silence. (6 minutes)
✍️ We Are Crashing Into the Future (Or It Is Crashing Into Us) — Meditations on an Emergency on Substack
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this Rebecca Solnit essay on change — not the gradual kind, but the violent, disorienting kind. Weaving the metaphor of a caterpillar’s metamorphosis into examples ripped from the headlines, she reframes this particular moment in history as a transformation that isn’t divorced from nature, but is part of nature itself. (15 minutes)
🚲 Amsterdam bans public adverts for meat and fossil fuels — BBC
Now for some encouraging news! Since May 1st, my daily commute in Amsterdam has been burger-ad-free. 🤩 This month, the city became the world's first capital to ban public advertising for meat and fossil fuel products. Will removing the visual nudge actually change behavior? Researchers are optimistic. (4 minutes)