When Everlane came out with their Cashmere Cardigan last fall, I kept eyeing it. I went to the store to try it on — more than once. I wrote a try-on review. As someone petite, the cropped length of this sweater called to me.

Priced at $200 at the time, though, it was not comfortable for my budget. But I kept thinking about it. (It’s even pricier now at $228, though you can snag it during a sale. Currently it’s part of a 30% off sale on sweaters, dresses, and outerwear, which brings it to $160.)

In January, I found a black one on Poshmark, new with tags too. So I snagged it. Here’s my review after owning it for 10 months. Though there’s many things I like about it, there’s a problem you should know about. Read on.

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I have sensitive skin, but this sweater doesn’t bother me.

Fabric: 94% recycled cashmere. The rest is recycled wool. (There’s a bit of nylon (5%) and elastane (1%) in the trimming.) When this cardigan was first released, Everlane called it the ReCashmere Cardigan to emphasize its recycled content. Compared to the first iteration of Everlane’s ReCashmere fabric released in 2019, this has much higher cashmere content and is softer.

Itch Factor: I have sensitive skin, but this sweater doesn’t bother me.

Where It’s Made: The yarn is sourced and spun in Prato, Italy. The sweater is manufactured in this 700-person factory in Dongguan, China.

Fit: Relaxed. The cut of this sweater is wide and boxy. I wear a S in most brands. Everlane generally runs big, so I mostly wear an XS in this brand. The XS drapes loosely.

I ended up sizing down to XXS for a closer fit, which measures about 18″ from pit to pit. (I would share a photo of me posing like above in the XXS for comparison except that I’ve gained a bunch of weight recently and it fits too snugly at the moment.) But either size works; the smaller size has a more regular fit while the larger size gives that slouchy look.

Petite Friendly?: Yes! I love the cropped length (20″ for the XXS), which works well for 5′ 4″ me. It hits around the top of my high-rise jeans. Sleeves run a bit long, but not annoyingly so. I can also push up the sleeves and they stay put.

Details & Styling: Though the V-neck is on the deep side, it’s not too deep that you can’t button it up and wear it on its own like the model near the top of this post. I’ve even worn it backwards with the V on the back. But mostly, I wear it open as a layer over shirts.

How It Wore: While there’s some pilling around the armpits, it doesn’t pill that much. But it does shed. Wearing it over a white button down shirt required taking a lint roller to that shirt afterwards as little black yarns had taken up residence all over it. So I wouldn’t wear a white shirt with it again.

And that’s when I saw a hole in the shoulder.

I wore this cardigan happily for six months. Then I washed it. According to care instructions, you can handwash or dry clean. I handwashed, being careful to do the roll-sweater-in-a-towel-and-gently-squeeze thing before laying flat to dry. After it dried, I was getting ready to put it into storage for the summer. And that’s when I saw a hole in the shoulder. Uggghhhh.

I don’t know if I damaged it or received a flawed item or what. But comparing the construction of this Cashmere Cardigan to Everlane’s ReCashmere Varsity Cardigan made a few years prior (no longer available, reviewed here), the shoulder seam does seem thinner or more loosely woven on the Cashmere Cardigan.

I wrote to Everlane to ask about yarn. Not that long ago if you bought a sweater, it came with extra yarn in case you had to repair it. It wasn’t fancy companies doing this either, just your regular mall brands like Banana Republic. (In another sign that clothes are more disposable these days, few retailers seem to do this nowadays.)

But Everlane said they couldn’t provide yarn. The customer service rep did seem open to replacing my cardigan at first. But because I didn’t buy it directly from them, in the end they said there wasn’t anything they could do.

What to do? I took it to my local dry cleaner/tailor. At least the hole was small. They confidently declared they could stitch it closed. Looking at the area now, I can see where they made the repair. But if you’re not looking for a flaw, you probably wouldn’t notice it.

BTW, the owner of the dry cleaner told me that their tailor is an elderly gentleman and that fewer people are doing this kind of work. I wonder if this is because there’s less demand these days. (I’ll always need to visit a tailor since I’m petite and need things hemmed or taken in.) Please support your local tailor!

Final Thoughts: Needless to say, I’m disappointed. I love the cut of this cardigan, the warmth, and the fact that it’s made out of recycled materials, which means a lower environmental impact. But a sweater should last more than six months before developing a hole! I’ve never had problems with my other Everlane sweaters. (I own six others, three of which are made of the earlier ReCashmere fabric with higher wool content.) Is this a sign that Everlane’s quality, at least when it comes to cashmere, has gone down?

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