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Speaking as a former employee with many friends on the front lines of this event, the lay-offs have very little to do with the team that (previously) wanted to

Speaking as a former employee with many friends on the front lines of this event, the lay-offs have very little to do with the team that (previously) wanted to unionize, and much more to do with COVID financial impact and the retail team, of which many many more are now out of a job (vs the team where some percentage of the members previously wanted to unionize). Whoever the person running that account is, they are not interested in you knowing all of the facts. I assure you.

monadic2 7y ago
Why was the company (and many like it) so vulnerable? Many of my friends wear everlane.
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  Sales of everything non essential are expected to drop drastically.
  - monadic2 7y ago
    Why don’t they have enough cash on hand to weather a few months of no sales? Why are american businesses so vulnerable to a downturn after two decades of discussing “black swan” events and “antifragility”? I am honestly bewildered.
    - lotsofpulp 7y ago
      Because a competitor business will instead use that cash to offer a better product and customers will flock to them. If you see a new or renovated hotel next to an old one, which one will you stay in? If an airline keeps flying old planes and the other airlines invest in new, nicer planes, which one will you choose to fly on? We see this story play out on these very Hacker News forum, where the common mantra is businesses that don’t invest in the future, that don’t spend on R&D, that don’t take risks deserve to die out and new businesses that did take risks deserve to take their place.
      - monadic2 7y ago
        > Because a competitor business will instead use that cash to offer a better product and customers will flock to them. Then how come competition doesn’t produce better products?
        lotsofpulp 7y ago
        In my experience, products have gotten better. The cars I drive, the hotels I stay in, the internet and devices I use, the planes I fly in, etc.
        monadic2 7y ago
        I suppose it's a matter of perspective.
cameronfraser 7y ago
Interesting, did not know that. There is a reddit thread in malefashionadvice you may want to comment on as well as there is no contradicting perspective there.
- taylorlapeyre 7y ago
  The amount of vitriol directed at Everlane for this Union thing is astounding. There never was a union. Some people on the team wanted to form one, but most did not. It caused huge cultural issues and tension across the team, and the pro-union employees were very loud and went to VICE pretty much any time they had any minor complaint about the company (which VICE would of course eat right up). Now Everlane is being framed as union-busting... when it was their own employees that couldn’t form or didn’t want a union. Everlane has always been fine with it, if that’s what the team wanted.

monadic2 7y ago

Why was the company (and many like it) so vulnerable? Many of my friends wear everlane.

lotsofpulp 7y ago
Sales of everything non essential are expected to drop drastically.
- monadic2 7y ago
  Why don’t they have enough cash on hand to weather a few months of no sales? Why are american businesses so vulnerable to a downturn after two decades of discussing “black swan” events and “antifragility”? I am honestly bewildered.
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    Because a competitor business will instead use that cash to offer a better product and customers will flock to them. If you see a new or renovated hotel next to an old one, which one will you stay in? If an airline keeps flying old planes and the other airlines invest in new, nicer planes, which one will you choose to fly on? We see this story play out on these very Hacker News forum, where the common mantra is businesses that don’t invest in the future, that don’t spend on R&D, that don’t take risks deserve to die out and new businesses that did take risks deserve to take their place.
    - monadic2 7y ago
      > Because a competitor business will instead use that cash to offer a better product and customers will flock to them. Then how come competition doesn’t produce better products?
      - lotsofpulp 7y ago
        In my experience, products have gotten better. The cars I drive, the hotels I stay in, the internet and devices I use, the planes I fly in, etc.
        monadic2 7y ago
        I suppose it's a matter of perspective.

cameronfraser 7y ago

Interesting, did not know that. There is a reddit thread in malefashionadvice you may want to comment on as well as there is no contradicting perspective there.

taylorlapeyre 7y ago
The amount of vitriol directed at Everlane for this Union thing is astounding. There never was a union. Some people on the team wanted to form one, but most did not. It caused huge cultural issues and tension across the team, and the pro-union employees were very loud and went to VICE pretty much any time they had any minor complaint about the company (which VICE would of course eat right up). Now Everlane is being framed as union-busting... when it was their own employees that couldn’t form or didn’t want a union. Everlane has always been fine with it, if that’s what the team wanted.