How do I Give Peer Review?

5119 27th Ave NE Seattle, WA 98105

November 30, 2021

Professor Walwema ENGL 388

Dear Professor Walwema:

Enclosed please find the report discussing the technical communication used by the brands Everlane and Patagonia to describe their formatting and explanation of their sustainability initiatives.

Thank you for taking your time to read this report.

Sincerely yours,

Jud� ���h��

Judy Cashin [email protected]

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Technical Communication and Sustainability: Everlane and Patagonia

Judy Cashin University of Washington

ENGL 388 Major Assignment 3 November 30, 2021

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Technical Communication and Sustainability: Everlane and Patagonia

Introduction

Both Everlane and Patagonia are clothing brands catered toward both men and women, with a clear emphasis on sustainability to their customer base. Everlane focuses more on a neutral color palette, and clothing basics such as sweaters, demin, and simple blouses, while Patagonia is better known for their outerwear and backpacks.

Because these two companies heavily advertise their sustainability to their audience, the content backing these claims up should be easily found on each of their websites. Through investigation and research, I have found that Everlane does the best job at formatting this information, and makes it easy to find on their website. Patagonia, however, could use a bit of work with their technical communication.

Everlane’s Sustainability Initiatives are hyperlinked to each of their product listings on their website, and are easy to locate from the fixed top bar at the top of their web page. Everlane’s information is located all on a single document that is easily accessed on a laptop or mobile format. Patagonia’s setup is a bit different, and much less user friendly. Their information is confusingly not located underneath their “activism” tab at the top, and is instead found after clicking the dash marks next to the shopping cart icon, and is the first thing listed under “company.”

From a user perspective, this formatting shows that Patagonia is less proud of their climate goals and practices than Everlane is.

The purpose of this report is to point out Everlane’s strengths, and point out where Patagonia could use improvement.

Sites of Analysis

Patagonia Patagonia is a clothing brand well known for their fleece half and quarter zip pullover jackets for both men and women. Their products are made to be used outdoors and with a lot of rain and wind protection. Patagonia has always been known for their care for the environment and their participation in organizations such as 1% for the planet, and activism with other environmental groups accurately displays that for their customers.

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Everlane Everalane is a clothing brand focused on ethical and sustainable production. They are focused on the quality of their items, which explains their higher price point. They claim that they are “not big on trends,” and this coincides with their neutral color palette and timeless clothing styles. Everlane was founded in 2012 in San Francisco by Michael Preysman.

Methodology The data used was obtained directly from the company’s webpages.

Analysis

Accessibility

Inclusivity

Works Cited McGrane, Karen. Content Strategy for Mobile. 2013.

Our Environmental Initiatives. https://www.everlane.com/sustainability

Senongo Akpem, and Catt Small. Cross-Cultural Design. New York, New York, Jeffrey Zeldman, 2020.

The Climate Crisis Is Our Business. https://www.patagonia.com/climate-goals/

Walton, Rebecca, et al. Technical Communication after the Social Justice Turn : Building Coalitions for Action. New York ; London, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2019.