Raquel Allegra maxi dress (size 1) | here’s one on sale, and here’s one secondhand
Freedom Moses sandals
First, I hope you are well, holding up as best as can be expected. We are okay; I am privileged to have everything I need within these four walls. I can’t say I’m not missing the abundance of fresh fruits and veggies I normally have access to, but I certainly won’t go hungry.
I took a break from news this weekend and felt great, but it hit me hard yesterday when I started listening/reading again. I did try to moderate a bit yesterday (I usually keep my local NPR station on in the background all day), but what I did listen to just wore me down. Then I had to go to Walgreens and pick up a prescription through the drive thru and cried on the way home. I can’t really say why. Anxiety probably, and feeling vulnerable just being out in the world.
Oddly, everything is so strange right now, but I’ve been home for more than two weeks, so isolation is also starting to feel normal. I remember when I broke my jaw (seems so long ago!!), and after a week or so of eating through a straw, I just got used to it; it started to feel like the way it had always been and the way it would always be.
We are remarkably adaptable, humans, when it comes to survival, and I think most of us will get through this alive, but depending on how long the social distancing and isolation goes on, we will be forever changed. Of course if you’ve lost your job, things are dire right now, I can’t even imagine dealing with that stress on top of general virus anxiety.
I don’t even know what to say. I hope you’re not looking to me for any words of wisdom LOL; I am a distraction. I wish I was a better distraction right now: posting every day, sharing outfits, talking about clothes. Honestly, every day is a whirlwind now, with this guy –
He keeps me pretty busy.
And literally no one asked, but I have been pretty outspoken with my thoughts on Everlane in the past, so here are my thoughts on THAT whole thing: read Leah’s post. No, really, she has a great synopsis of the issue, and I share pretty much her same opinion about it (including Vice as a dubious news outlet, and the inflammatory nature of it all).
I stopped thinking of Everlane as an “ethical” or sustainable brand a long time ago, so the fact that they’re behaving “unethically” (which I don’t necessarily buy into) is just par for the course, or along the lines of what every other retail business in the US is doing right now. Yes, it’s unsettling for a company to say “yay, all is well, we’ll weather the storm without mass layoffs, etc., etc., etc.,” and then do a complete about face, but we’re all getting whiplash nowadays. Eileen Fisher did the same thing, said they were going to pay all their retail employees while they weren’t working, and then abruptly asked them to take unpaid leave so they could afford to continue healthcare coverage.
Which, I’m not even sure how that works. Are they now unemployed? Can they file for unemployment while they’re on “unpaid leave still receiving benefits?” I honestly don’t know anything about this issue, but at least the Everlane CX employees (or were they contractors?) can file for unemployment now, and no, that’s not ideal (having a job is ideal), but it’s not nothing.
Moving on from that, what about Everlane’s affiliates? As Leah mentioned, it’ll cost her thousands of dollars to “quit” Everlane. It cost me a thousand + dollars a MONTH when I quit Everlane; I was earning a significant percentage of my blog income only from Everlane commissions every month. Slowre was picking up at that time, so I had an alternate source of income, but affiliates now probably do NOT, and that is a HUGE amount of money for anyone right now.
So no, I don’t expect, or wouldn’t ask anyone to “quit” Everlane right now. And I don’t even think it’s necessary. If we believe that boycotts don’t work, that change has to come from within, and from active participation/negotiation/etc., with a government, or company (which I do, for the most part, but not always), then why can’t affiliates continue to work with Everlane while ALSO calling them out and asking them to do better?
Of course, Leah also mentioned that Everlane has also been passing over early-adopters, those of us who are genuinely interested in ethical and sustainable fashion brands (as we thought/hoped Everlane was back in the beginning), for influencers who dabble a bit in ethical fashion, but who mostly have BIG social media followings. So why should Leah continue to support them if they are not giving her the attention she deserves?
All of us have to do what we feel is right at any given time and for any given issue. My time to quit Everlane was several years ago, many others are quitting now. I don’t judge anyone for being true to their conscience. It’s just not that simple though, and I hate to see the judgement going around of affiliates (mostly the smaller ones, the larger, tens of thousands of followers affiliates will be okay without Everlane) who don’t quit Everlane for not being truly interested in “ethical” fashion. PLEASE. (I’m rolling my eyes right now)
ESPECIALLY RIGHT NOW. We are all doing the best we can to survive. Maybe Everlane is too. And honestly, cutting loose part-time CX employees who wanted to unionize in favor of keeping on full-time retail employees might have been the best way to do it. It’s not fair, and maybe it’s not even “right,” but maybe they made that calculation so they might be able to come out the other side of this still in business.
This is a massive clusterfuck right now – all sorts of bad things are going to happen.
Maybe getting up on a soapbox about Everlane rn isn’t the best use of time. Just saying. haha. After I just did. But that’s because I had thoughts, and Hawk is sleeping, so I had some time 😉
Please, do what you can to make your days a little brighter and happier right now. And let others do the same.
Thank you! For the whole commentary. I echo many of those complicating thoughts, and have been hopeful that Everlane would simply address the issue straightforwardly and with an eye toward what they will be able to do when/if their economic situation gets better. This underscores how little cashflow and savings companies are encouraged to keep around for rainy days, and I hope that those businesses that survive will plan better before something like this happens again. I also find it deplorable that people are going after influencers even though the vast majority of “ethical” influencers don’t make a living wage off of their blog income. It’s hard to take a hit, but then not making the right political move will result in a hit anyway. There’s no winning anywhere in this equation.
Hard to find words for anything right now but I do want to say “thanks” to you, Grechen, and you too, Leah!
I agree. It just doesn’t feel like the right time for waves of outrage unless the sins are truly grievous.
Hawk is really adorable:). Thank you for sharing him.
Sigh… So I needed some new bras and I had Everlane credit just sitting there. I vowed not to buy anymore of their tshirts because they wear out way too quickly. So I used my credit to buy two bralettes. They are fine. Not brilliant but they will do (especially since I won’t be seeing many people outside of my house for the foreseeable future. So now I can be done with them and renew my commitment to buying used clothing as much as possible (though finding bras is tough).
Hawk is lovely!
Thanks Grechen for this because I am definitely one of those affiliates that will take a major hit during these hard times if I say no to Everlane. I am saying no for now because let’s be honest, I probably shouldn’t be buying and accumulating more things at this point (though it’s so hard because all I want to do is stress shop lol). Anyway I value both yours and Leah’s opinions here so thanks for putting it out there!
I spend all my days advising clients about this new time of pandemic and without going into details, I can say that decisions made by employers are complex and that at the moment unemployment compensation in the short term is particularly generous (due to federal supplementation of state amounts) and that factors into employer decisions. MOVING ON as I keep hoping to do, I want to say that more pictures of Hawk would no doubt cheer all of us up!
thanks for your input margaret!
i will try to post more pictures 🙂