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Most people know Reformation—if not for its sustainability and marketing, then for its signature aesthetic and prominent brick-and-mortar location, a physical store, on 12 South. Founded in 2009, Reformation was originally a curated vintage store which quickly began manufacturing its own clothing line. In 2013, they opened their online store and began honing in on their brand image: a high-quality, luxury line of sustainable women’s fashion. Since then, Reformation has grown into a cult-favorite women’s brand known for its sophisticated styles, ranging from everyday jeans to elegant gowns.
In 2019, Reformation was acquired by Permira, a private equity firm based in London. Since then, consumers have been seeing a lot more from Reformation. Their global brick-and-mortar presence has increased and new clothing ‘drops’ have become more frequent. However, we have also seen their fabric quality and environmental impact worsen. In an attempt to maximize profit, Reformation’s private equity partners have found new ways of cutting costs through their fabrics, opting for synthetics over natural. This shift to cheaper materials lowers the overall quality and sustainability of their products, even as the brand continues to charge high luxury prices.
What is Private Equity?
Private equity firms buy majority equity stakes in private or formerly public companies, many in need of greater financial backing, to ‘add value.’ Professor Ayako Yasua from University of California, Davis, did a study titled “Impact of Private Equity” that investigated the broad economic and social effects of private equity investment. Yasua found that the main sources of this value are “increasing revenue, improving incentives and governance, facilitating high-value exit or sale, making additional acquisitions, replacing management and reducing costs.”
What is Sustainability in Fashion?
Sustainability in the fashion industry is a challenge. With advancing technology and trend cycles shortening, fast fashion has become the standard. Fast fashion is defined by its high speed, large scale cheap production, and often, low quality.
In an interview, Leah Pardeshi, a Vanderbilt Lecturer of Business Studies who teaches the course Corporate Social Responsibility, explained that “the fast fashion model is fundamentally unsustainable as it exists today. The sheer pace of production and consumption – cheap materials, low wages, and constant new collections – creates an enormous amount of waste.” These inexpensive, low quality fabrics are synthetic and contain fibers like nylon, polyester, acrylic, etc. These fibers are man-made and “made from fossil fuels, so they carry a high carbon footprint, shed microplastics as they’re washed, and take hundreds of years to break down,” according to Pardeshi. She continued: “Even when fast fashion brands add ‘conscious’ lines or recycled fabrics, those efforts don’t offset the scale of overproduction and waste built into the current system.”
So how would a fashion company navigate sustainability? Pardeshi says that “a truly sustainable fashion company keeps people, planet, and profit in balance, considering the entire value chain from fiber sourcing and dyeing to packaging, transport, and end-of-life…. True sustainability means designing with circularity in mind – repair, reuse, and recycling – and backing those commitments with clear metrics and transparent reporting for real accountability.”
To ensure accountability that balances people, planet, and profit, companies should evaluate their impact using standardized sustainability metrics. These often measure carbon footprint, energy use, water consumption, pollution, material, labor conditions, transparency, innovation, and more. However, according to Pardeshi, especially in the fashion industry, there are some limitations to current sustainability metrics. Pardeshi also noted that “creating company-specific metrics can spark creativity and innovation, but it also makes it harder to compare performance across the industry, and easier to greenwash.” She suggested that companies should unify their sustainability initiatives with existing standardized frameworks and “build tailored metrics that reflect the industry’s unique challenges.”
Reformation’s Sustainability Mission: What they Claim vs. What they Do
Reformation has historically been viewed as a very high-quality, slow-fashion brand where consumers can find items made from natural fibers: cotton, wool, cashmere, silk, etc. Additionally, in many ways, Reformation has been a fantastic model for sustainability. Their very transparent sustainability metric ‘RefScale’ measures their carbon footprint and water usage throughout the whole lifecycle of their items. They even highlight material sourcing and their carbon emissions in their quarterly sustainability reports.
However, the 2025 Q1 and Q2 reports do not clearly outline their use of recycled synthetics. Instead, they are labeled ‘deadstock.’ So, what is this recycled synthetic? The Oceane Satin Dress, which retails for a whopping $448, is made of 100% deadstock polyester. The Morning Doug Jacket, in their newest Reformation x Nara Smith Collection, again, is “a deadstock woven fabric made from 100% polyester.” This deadstock, or recycled polyester, according to their sustainability report, makes up 11.58% of their material sourcing. Conveniently, they did not list the associated carbon emissions.
This polyester or their so-called “deadstock” is likely not sustainable and not of good quality due to the nature of recycled polyester. From a sustainability aspect, recycled polyester cannot be re-recycled as it would break down the fibers, releasing “microplastics into the environment” and potentially leading to “inconsistent color, requiring significant water, energy, and chemicals for re-dying.” In addition to polyester’s lack of sustainability, it is also simply not good quality. Recycled fibers are sourced from fabric scraps which are inhomogeneous and have varying fiber lengths, often resulting in a low-quality fabrication that negatively affects manufacturing and product quality. Inhomogenous fiber type refers to the recycled materials that contain different fiber contents which makes quality control and consistency incredibly difficult. Non-uniformly distributed fiber lengths create weaker yarn because shorter fibers negatively impact garments relative to longer, stronger virgin fibers. Research has shown that even when recycled fibers are blended with virgin fibers, the virgin fibers are then of lower quality.
Reformation has clearly begun using recycled synthetics in their most recent releases. While Pardeshi claimed that these practices are an improvement in the fashion industry, she also stated that “[recycled synthetics] are not the ultimate solution.” She continued saying, “it’s really a ‘better, not best’ situation and can easily cross into greenwashing if companies don’t also cut overall production or design for circularity.” Greenwashing is widely recognized as a practice where companies misleadingly present themselves as environmentally responsible or sustainable to enhance consumer trust and profits, without genuinely implementing significant action.
Reformation has not only strayed away from their brand in material sourcing, but since the acquisition, they have opened 53 brick-and-mortar locations, having only 14 in 2019. Reformation has publicized very limited information on their sustainability efforts regarding this growth in retail locations. Along with this saturation of retailers around the world, we have been seeing an uptick in styles and designs being released. As of 2019, Permira stated that Reformation was releasing around 15-20 new styles each week. This, again, is a signal that Reformation is leaving their slow fashion, sustainable branding in the past.
ESG Dive, an online publication specializing in sustainability efforts, found that Reformation had produced over 700 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2023 which is an increase from around 600 metric tons the previous year. Reformation’s use of synthetic materials, growth in physical retailers and production growth, without a doubt, has contributed to this increase in their carbon footprint.
Tying Together PE, Sustainability and Quality
As a consumer, I find it hard to decipher what products are really worth that premium price. Reformation is charging hundreds of dollars, for what? Polyester? Yes, recycled polyester requires more processing and is therefore more costly, but not by much. Currently, recycled polyester costs, on average, $1.10-1.40/kg, while virgin polyester averages $0.85- $1.05/kg. While a little more pricey, recycled polyester is still far more cost-effective than the premium natural fibers Reformation once promised. So now, loyal Reformation consumers are paying very high prices for slightly better than normal polyester, not natural fabrics. This premium price for cheap, low quality, unsustainable fabrics leads me to believe that Reformation, and inherently their private equity backer, are cutting costs to maximize profit. In cutting these costs, they are opting for worse fabrics which negatively impact quality and the environment, pulling them further away from their brand mission. As Reformation grows, we see the tension between brand values and profit become much clearer.
Why This Matters
At the end of the day, consumers want to spend their top dollar on items they believe will last a long time. So, whether or not sustainability is a personal priority, Reformation’s shift affects all of their customers. Unfortunately, Reformation has seemingly hooked many into their sustainable, high quality, stylish brand. While this image may have been accurate to the brand originally, the introduction of intense profit maximization practices alongside private equity have stripped the brand down to some cheap polyester and a disappointing sustainability “report.”
Overall, Reformation’s transformation under Permira reveals how private equity can compromise a brand’s original mission. Once a model for sustainable luxury, Reformation now prioritizes growth and profit, relying on their synthetic “deadstock” fabrics and faster production cycles that undermine its eco-conscious image. According to Pardeshi, in this “market-driven industry, real change will require consumers to value quality, longevity, and sustainability over constant newness – otherwise brands have little incentive to radically evolve.”
