A preppy apparel start-up is defying J. Crew's curse and dominating the millennial market

everlane fashion company office tour 6625

At a time when shoppers are fleeing mall chains like J.Crew, Gap, and Abercrombie & Fitch, direct-to-consumer fashion label Everlane is thriving.

Founded in 2010, Everlane follows in the footsteps of e-commerce sites Warby Parker and Bonobos by selling wardrobe staples like t-shirts, cardigans, pants, and loafers online only. (Its first brick-and-mortar is coming to San Francisco later this year.) A company spokesperson declined to share revenue for 2016, but Privco, a firm that researches private companies, put Everlane's sales at $35 million for 2015. That's up nearly 200% from 2013.

We stepped into the Everlane headquarters to find out what one of the most innovative companies in fashion is doing differently during the retail apocalypse.

Everlane would like you to believe this is no ordinary crewneck.

These are no ordinary pants, either. They are "versions" of pants. Much like app developers who post frequent software updates, Everlane is constantly iterating on its products.

This model is in stark contrast to how traditional fashion brands operate. Most retailers launch collections based on seasons, so when August rolls around, the stores fill with new sweaters and corduroys in the hope that shoppers scoop them up before Pumpkin Spice Lattés arrive.

But as Quartz pointed out, this approach doesn't reflect how customers actually shop. Most people don't buy new wardrobes all at once. They search out items as they need them.

"Traditional brands launch a ton of stuff and then they look at what sold and what didn't," Michael Preysman, CEO and founder of Everlane, told Business Insider. "We look at it much more on a product-level basis."

Everlane releases small batches of new apparel on a continuous basis throughout the year.

It gathers feedback from customer surveys, return shipments, and in-person "fit clinics," to make products better. In the past, Everlane has swapped the material in a pair of slim wool trousers to make them less itchy and adjusted a shoe sole so feet wouldn't slip out as easily.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider