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The Great Greenwashing: When Sustainability Meets Fast Fashion It was always about the money, wasn't it? For a while there, it seemed like the execs opining "sustainability is not a trend, it's the future" actually meant it. But when yet another global brand drops its net zero goals or stops talking about DEI, you do wonder. Recent headlines include Stella McCartney adulterating her eco gloss with a sustainable capsule collection for H&M; – don't worry, she's just "infiltrating from within" – and Lululemon being investigated for PFAS. The letdowns keep coming. The Everlane-Shein Merger: A Collision of Ideals Now the internet is reeling from a report that Shein plans to acquire Everlane, the San Francisco-based sustainable basics brand built on "radical transparency". Shein is the Chinese ultra-fast fashion giant epitomising murky supply chains and crazy-cheap landfill fashion. They release up to 10,000 styles a day, and have been making headlines of their own over secrecy and alleged links to forced Uyghur labor. Fashion reporter Lauren Sherman reported the acquisition plans this week, though neither Shein nor Everlane have confirmed. Everlane appears to be losing money fast. After layoffs in 2020 and 2023, the brand confirmed in April it was closing its San Francisco office. The Financial Calculus Behind Sustainable Fashion's Fall According to Sherman, Shein sees value in the brand's supply chain and was the only one willing to stump up the US $100m asked by Everlane's majority owner, private equity giant L Catterton (which is backed by LVMH, and owned RM Williams before Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest bought it in 2020). Shein can afford it – last year, their sales topped £2bn in the UK and $1.5bn in Australia. For my money, I bet it's not just the practical capabilities of the supply chain that interests Shein, it's the story. They could use a green glow-up. The Shifting Landscape of Ethical Fashion The Everlane tragedy follows last month's Allbirds comedy. Another publicly listed sustainable fashion company driven by Silicon Valley hype, Allbirds has given up making sneakers out of carbon neutral materials in order to flog AI. The surprise pivot came with a name change – NewBird – and a cynical cash grab. The old bird had been leaking money; the new one sent stock surging 600%. I visited Allbirds HQ the same year I interviewed Preysman. We discussed their B Corp journey, material innovation and how co-founder Joey Zwillinger reckoned "at the end of the day, people don't buy sustainable products, they buy great product experiences". I titled the podcast episode 'The Eco-Awesomeness of Allbirds – Sustainable Shoes for Changemakers'. The Future of Sustainability: Beyond Greenwashing So how do we navigate this moment? Accept it: sustainability is not hot right now. OK! This was never meant to be a popularity contest. The movement needs to get back to basics. Circularity won't save us – we must focus on workers' rights and the just transition. Have hard conversations about overproduction. Dismantle consumerism as the dominant narrative and define a properly radical approach to system change. You can't take the politics out of this, but why would you want to? As the last few months have shown us, when sustainability becomes purely about the business case, it stops meaning anything at all.

Shares in eco-friendly shoe maker Allbirds experienced a dramatic surge of 582% after the company announced a sudden pivot to artificial intelligence and rebranding as 'NewBird AI'. The unexpected move sent the company's stock price soaring during a flurry of trading.Allbirds, known for its minimalist wool sneakers popular in Silicon Valley, had struggled in recent years, with its shares losing 99% of their worth since 2021. The company was once valued at $4 billion but had fallen into disrepair. Earlier this month, Allbirds announced plans for a $39 million sale to brand management firm American Exchange Company.The company's new focus will be on acquiring graphics processing units to support AI compute. Allbirds stated, “The rise of AI development and adoption has created unprecedented structural demand for specialized, high-performance compute that the market is struggling to meet. NewBird AI is being built to help close that gap.”Allbirds has secured $50 million in funding from an unnamed investor for its new AI operation, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company will shift from its status as an eco-conscious public benefit corporation to a conventional corporation, with a reduced focus on environmental conservation.Despite its initial success, with sustainability central to its marketing and endorsements from celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Gwyneth Paltrow, Oprah Winfrey, and Barack Obama, Allbirds struggled to sustain momentum and largely fell out of fashion. The company closed its last physical stores in the US in January and reported a $20.3 million loss in the third quarter of last year.Allbirds is now awaiting shareholder approval for American Exchange Company’s purchase of the company in a vote next month. The sale will enable Allbirds “to pivot its business to AI compute infrastructure, with a long-term vision to become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-native cloud solutions provider.”