15 Ethical and Sustainable Fashion Brands
It can be hard to find fashion brands to buy from that align with your values. Here’s a quick list of ethical and sustainable brands.
As always you should always do your own research and determine which brands you are comfortable supporting based on their ethics. Remember, your money and how you choose to spend it is powerful. It sends a message to suppliers. You essentially for voting for brands when you spend your money and support them. This list is just a resource to lead you in the right direction.
Grana is an awesome company that specializes in creating staple pieces while keeping ethics and the environment in mind. Their denim is incredible.
A new up and coming brand, Girlfriend Collective produces active wear using recycled water bottles. They have a huge focus on sustainability and ethical fashion and their leggings are a dream.
Matt & Nat uses 100% vegan and sustainable materials. They’re main focus is accessories and shoes.
Patagonia is great if you’re concerned about ethical fashion such as fair wages. Check out this video showing the impact of fair trade clothing. Organic cotton and recycled materials are used in their products. They’re also focused on their environmental impact both in production as well as the life of their products. They offer to repair products through their Worn Wear program which gives their clothing a second life. Check them out if you’re looking for all things active wear.
Fair trade and sustainable clothing, People Tree is trying to reverse fast fashion by developing only a few collections a year with materials that are meant to last. They have a little bit of everything from adorable dresses to relaxed leggings.
6) PACT
Non-GMO, organic cotton and non-toxic dyes are used to produce their fair trade, sweatshop-free, family-run farms using renewable energy. They have amazingly comfy soft basics.
7) Amour Vert
Made in the USA, this brand focuses on great fashion and social responsibility. Non-toxic dyes, sustainable fabrics, and zero-waste are some of their noteworthy priorities. As a bonus, for every T-shirt you purchase they plant a tree in North America. Definitely a bit of a splurge but investing in good quality is better than rebuying again and again.
8) Reformation
“Being naked is the #1 most sustainable option. We’re #2.” They have an amazing feature that allows you to see approximately how much carbon dioxide, how many gallons of water, and how much waste is saved for each article of clothing. It allows you to know the exact environmental impact your clothing has. They also invest in offsets which help them plant trees, invest in clean water solutions, and purchase landfill gas offsets. They have some really amazing fashion forward pieces as well as fun unique basics.
Alternative Apparel once again focuses on amazing basics. They are green certified; they also participate in fair labor, ethical production, and use sustainable materials.
10) Everlane
They also have a really unique choose what you pay option instead of a sale section. This allows you to see exactly what each price covers before you choose. They make their products from good quality materials in ethical factories. They believe that customers have the right to know the cost of making the product as well as where and how they’re made. Their transparency is amazingly refreshing.
11) Wallis Evera
Wallis Evera uses sustainable, biodegradable hemp as their foundation fabric. They focus on small batch manufacturing, ethical sourcing, and sparking a dialogue for a more sustainable future. They have amazing office wear. If you’re looking for new dress for an interview check them out.
12) My Sister
My Sister’s mission is to fight sex trafficking and provide resources for survivors of sexual exploitation. They produce a variety of ethically produced clothing (mainly tops) as well as handcrafted jewelry by survivors of trafficking in Nepal. A percentage of each sale goes to nonprofit partners.
13) Organic Basics
Organic Basics provides exactly what you would think, basics made of organic cotton. They focus on higher standards in sustainable production.
Knowledge Cotton Apparel is a Denmark based menswear brand focusing on ethical clothing, organic cotton and recycled PET polyester. They also have the goal to be Carbon Neutral by 2025.
Krochet Kids Intl. is a nonprofit brand that aims to empower their artisans through fair wages, education, and mentoring programs. Each piece has a tag hand signed by the woman who made the article of clothing. They also have an awesome 3 tops surprise pack where you get 3 tops at random for only $30.
Bonus: Online Conscious Stores
Bead and Reel and Modavanti are both online clothing stores that allow you to buy based on your values. Values they sort by include vegan, fair trade, organic, recycled, zero waste, and made in the US.
Written by Patricia Van Valkenburgh, class of 2019
Image thanks to Pixabay
Also, forgot to reply to incense regarding her (his?) argument on how expensive sustainable, ethical fashion is. The thing is, your argument is sadly based solely on an emotional appeal, and a little bit of ignorance (sorry to be so blunt). If you would check some of the links in the article you would realize you can buy fashion basics for $15-$20 (i.e. https://www.everlane.com) or if you’re looking for more unique and stylish pieces you can find great designers at https://www.notjustalabel.com, not to mention sale section of NDC https://www.newdresscode.com/womens-fashion-sale where you can find hand-made, designer pieces from €45…. I mean how much more affordable can beautiful and sustainable fashion be?
Hi Patricia,
Nice write-up. You should consider giving some exposure to the emerging, sustainable brands, and independent fashion designers as well. Most are already familiar already with Patagonia, Everlane, and Stella McCartney, and many other brands mentioned here, but not many realize there are many wonderful, independent brands to be discovered locally, that produce clothing as fashionable as Stella’s, at a fraction of the cost. By discovering and investing in such brands we help to promote diversity in the fashion industry and support local economies at the same time. Such brands are at the forefront of the slow fashion movement. You an discover some of them here: https://www.newdresscode.com/fashion-brands
Great resources Patricia. Will be bookmarking! I undertook n a journey in Minimalism for a number of years without really knowing that was what I was doing. I just knew I needed more space and less things, so began donating and giving away things like crazy. Clutter is really bad for my mind and creativity so I think we are both on the same page with that one!
Hello to both of you! incense, let me say I completely sympathize with everything being expensive. However, these products are usually more expensive because they source their materials in a more conscious way. Additionally, the companies often have a fairer wage for their employees. As a college student who is almost always broke I completely agree that this makes it harder to make more sustainable choices. Zoonibo, as you’ve pointed out many people do not wear everything in their wardrobe which often results in them wasting money on items they never wear or re-buying cheaply made items. I encourage you both to check out these other blog posts I wrote over the summer that cover fashion to learn more and pick up a few more tips and tricks for buying more sustainably!
Shopping for Clothing Sustainably – This article has some great tips that include ways to shop sustainably on a budget. http://blogs.rochester.edu/thegreendandelion/2017/07/students-corner-236/
Minimalism – This article describes minimalism as well as my own journey in cleaning out my closet and beauty products. It really made me realize what I loved and don’t need. If I had saved all of that money and invested it in better products I would have been better off. http://blogs.rochester.edu/thegreendandelion/2017/08/students-corner-242/
Bonus Blog: Hygiene/beauty products sustainably – This article includes some recipes to make your own sustainable and vegan hygiene products. http://blogs.rochester.edu/thegreendandelion/2017/06/students-corner-235/
Let me know if you all have any more questions or concerns! I’d love to hear from you.
Hi Patricia, It’s great to see posts like this, as you rightly point out “You essentially for voting for brands when you spend your money and support them”. This is a point that a lot of consumers overlook when they make the choice of where to shop. The smaller brands need support from the consumer if they are able to keep pushing the mission to change the ethics of the fashion industry as a whole. As Incence has commented above, it can be hard to find affordable ethically made choices, but with recent research finding that we only wear on average 20% of our wardrobes, that means that 80% of what we spend isnt being used. With this in mind, you can adjust your shopping choices and afford to by products that are 400% more expensive, as long as you use them 100% of the time, or 200% more expensive if you use them 50% of the time. Worth a thought.
It’s really difficult to get beauty in budget. Every product is so expensive.