Michael Preysman wants you to know that if you are buying such basics as T-shirts, belts or tote bags at traditional retailers, you’re probably paying too much. Just how much is a matter of debate, but Preysman, a co-founder and the C.E.O. of the e-commerce site Everlane.com, contends that when designer labels are stitched into these typical items, the price can be eight times higher than what it costs to make them.  Armed with this knowledge — and a desire to shed light on the murky manufacturing and markup process — Preysman quit his day job at the venture capital firm Elevation Partners to start the San Francisco-based Everlane. As an online-only purveyor, Preysman aims to reinvent retail by offering luxurious versions of wardrobe staples without the sticker shock. The site went live last November with a simple (premium cotton) T-shirt for just $15, a price Preysman says even beats its closest competitors, like American Apparel.  “The Web is good for cutting costs on core basics,” Preysman says. He maintains that even though Everlane’s T-shirts are made in American factories and cost just over $6 to create, eliminating the overhead from a brick-and-mortar store allows prices to remain reasonable.  In addition to its threads being easy on the wallet, Everlane’s minimalist aesthetic and transparent philosophy quickly drew scores of early devotees, who now number close to a quarter million. The company also caught the eye (and a $1.1 million first round of funding) of a few high-profile investors, including Kleiner Perkins and Path’s Dave Morin, among others.  No longer an invite-only establishment, Everlane now peddles pared-down collections of tees, along with soft sweatshirts, crisp bow ties, Italian leather belts and sturdy canvas satchels. This, Preysman says, is another deliberate choice to distinguish Everlane from the massive marketplaces on the Web. “Online retail is a mess,” he says. “People need choice, but at some point choice is too much. You end up spending six hours browsing and more unhappy than when you started,” he says.  Careful editing brings only the most relevant products to its customers, according to Preysman. Everlane isn’t trying to be a lifestyle brand, per se; instead, Preysman is interested in cultivating a company that is based on enlightened values. “The world is moving to this place where it’s about the choices you make,” he says.  Limited offerings also help Everlane maintain its margins as it continues to grow and evolve. Anticipating demand with such a short sales history is “a hard problem to solve,” Preysman admits, but he notes that Everlane consistently sells out of items relatively quickly. “The average age [of our team] is 27. We don’t know anything about traditional, prevailing wisdom in retail. If we sacrifice a little bit of revenue, it’s O.K.” If anything, these sell-throughs lend an air of urgency and exclusivity to the experience.  Yet even Preysman, who turns 27 this month, understands the need for an emerging e-commerce brand to place its goods in the hands of potential customers. So the online merchant is making a foray into a physical space, but only briefly. This week, Everlane’s “Not a Shop” will occupy a storefront in Manhattan on Prince Street in SoHo.  The pop-up installation with the decidedly cheeky name will serve to present Everlane’s merchandise in a more traditional setting for just four days. Though visual and tactile, the experience is still meant to drive e-commerce. At the shop you’ll be encouraged to try on a T-shirt or sling a bag over your shoulder, but you will actually pay less (and get free shipping!) if you go and order them online. If you need instant gratification, rest assured that the extra proceeds are going to the designers of the concept — in this case the Principals, graduates of Pratt.  “You can teach your customer to behave differently,” Preysman says. Although he says “Not a Shops” will pop up in L.A. and San Francisco later this year, he’s standing firmly on virtual ground. “We are going to shut the company down before we go to physical retail.”  Everlane’s “Not a Shop” is open June 28 through July 1, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., at 65 Prince Street, New York. Go to everlane.com.
Peddling luxurious essentials at kind prices, Everlane.com's e-commerce thumbs its nose at the high cost of traditional retail.