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tl;dr - Everlane cashmere sweater is disappointing.

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I’ve been interested in Everlane since they opened a year ago. They claim to make high quality goods for a much lower price by cutting out the middle man. So when they released their new cashmere sweaters this November, it seemed like a good time to try them out.

When Everlane first launched, they released an info graphic implying that shirts you buy in stores are significantly marked up, and since Everlane forgoes the brick-and-mortar route, they are able to sell you a much higher quality product than what you would normally get for the price you’re paying. Everlane talks a big game about the quality of their products. In an interview on This Week In Startups, Everlane’s founder Michael Preysman is asked if he could spend more to produce higher quality on Everlane’s t-shirts (at 11:30). He replies that it’s possible to spend more money on sewing or adding details/branding, but there’s not much more you could do. He also says “quality is the most important thing for us” (11:28). Thus, for Everlane’s cashmere sweater my expectations are very high. I’m expecting nice, soft cashmere with a good fit that I would find sold in a department store for $200-$400. So, when the Everlane pouch showed up in the mail, how did it measure up? Exceptionally underwhelming.

I bought the cashmere crew neck in grey soon after they went on sale. My order arrived less than a week later. To my surprise, the sweater came in a drawstring bag:

It’s always nice when companies go the extra mile to surprise and delight with bonuses like this. Everlane got that detail right, but unfortunately, everything else was a let down. I reached inside the bag to feel the sweater expecting a medium weight, super soft cashmere. Big disappointment. It’s a thin cashmere with a mediocre feel. I compared it side-by-side to a cashmere Joseph Abboud scarf and Jack Spade hat, and the Everlane sweater just doesn’t match up in softness.

But that’s not the end of the world, right? If it has a nice tailored fit, it might still be worth the price. I ordered a medium which Everlane lists as chest 38-40 and an Everlane medium t-shirt fits me perfectly. So… how did the sweater fit? It looks like they gave me some sort of extra large torso version. Here’s how it measures up to a Gant Rugger Vee size medium sweater which has a nice slim fit:

In fact, the Everlane sweater is the worst fitting sweater I’ve tried on in a while. It seems to fit well in the shoulders, but the middle bulges out. I really hate the hassle of sending things back, but I could never see myself wearing this, and I would have never seen this in a store and thought “Wow what amazing quality for only $120”. It didn’t meet my expectations, which admittedly were high, but to be fair, Everlane put those expectations where they are.